Two Suspected female bombers arrested in Abuja!

A news media online reported that two suspected female bombers were picked up by Law enforcement agents today in connection with recent bombings in the Northern part of Nigeria.

The incident occurred around 10.30am at the Gwarimpa Estate, CITEC Junction Bus Stop.

The operatives, more than 15 plain-clothed policemen stormed the spot in a van where two girls aged between 16 and 18, were standing as if they were waiting for someone.

The two girls wearing hijab, but not covering their faces, were waiting under the pedestrian bridge when they were both arrested. They tried to resist arrest initially but were overpowered by the men who even brought out guns to scare the onlookers/traders who wanted to intervene.

They successfully took the girls away heading towards the FCT Metropolis.

An eyewitness said when he saw both girls standing under the bridge for a long period of time, he had a feeling that they could be terrorists hence was not surprised when the operatives came and picked them up.

The Real truth behind Diezani Allison-Madueke's arrest!

Online News media have been giving different accounts and mentioning huge figures allegedly swindled by the immediate past Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke as reasons for her arrest by British security operatives in London last Friday.
The truth that has emerged from a reliable source show that the ex-minister got herself in hot waters as a result of a building worth £12.5 million she acquired in 2013 through a  mortgage arrangement in London.

The agreed monthly amount for the mortgage  raised suspicions among UK authorities which they knew was too high to be paid through a public official's legitimate income.

It was learnt that the UK’s National Crimes Agency had dispatched a team to Abuja for an investigation into the incomes of the affected public officers because of the huge amount of money that was being paid steadily to defray the amount on the mortgage.

The source explained that the police suspected that the mortgaged London properties might have been serviced with laundered money from the Government of Nigeria.

The source said, “This particular investigation did not originate from Nigeria. I can tell you that this is different from the investigation being conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission into the financial operations of the NNPC under Alison-Madueke.

“This is a strictly UK investigation and it has to do with the procurement of a property in the UK for £12.5m through a mortgage arrangement in London.

“The UK authorities became suspicious when they realised that the agreed monthly amount for the mortgage was too high for the income of a public official without other sources of income.

“You know the (UK) people; they kept quiet when the whole arrangement was going on in 2013. They allowed the funds to go into their economy before they moved in against them with the intent to seize the properties.

The investigation, which commenced in 2013 climaxed Friday last week with the arrest of Alison-Madueke and four others by the UK police for alleged fraud.

The EFCC raided the residence of the ex-minister at Asokoro same day she was arrested in the UK.

Although the raid did not yield any huge financial recovery contrary to media reports, the operatives from the Subsidy Unit of the EFCC carted away several documents from the residence.

The EFCC operatives, who insisted that only N1.2 million was recovered from the Asokoro residence of the minister, said that the files moved away from her house were being analysed.

Meanwhile, the British National Crime Agency on Monday obtained court permission to temporarily seize £27,000 (N8.078m) from a former petroleum resources minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Reuters reports.

Lagosians bash Ambode for appearing at a Night Club!

The governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode was spotted at the popular nightclub Quilox last night by a guy who goes by the name Ifeanyi Stanley on Twitter. He expressed his thoughts using his handle @stanley_iffy about it and in hours, 'Ambode' and 'Quilox' were trending. Check the comments of Lagosians below!

Reactions from Nigeria Twitter continue after the cut.

 

Breaking: Deizani Alison-Madueke arrested in London!

The Immediate minister of petroleum in Nigeria, Deizani Alison-Madueke, was on Friday arrested in London by the United Kingdom National Crime Agency along with four others for alleged money laundering.

When contacted, the British High Commission in Nigeria confirmed that some arrests were made Friday but declined to disclose the identities of those involved.

Joseph Abuku, Press and Public Affairs Officer, said, “This morning, five people between the ages of 21 and 60 were arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption offences. The crimes are being investigated by the National Crimes Agency.

“The National Crime Agency does not confirm identity at arrest nor provide information that could be used to corroborate the identity of an arrested individual.”

It is not clear whether the former minister was arrested based on request from the Nigerian government.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on September 27 hinted that those who misappropriated billions of naira belonging to Nigeria’s state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation would soon be prosecuted.

The NNPC under the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was involved in several questionable deals, many of which have been cancelled by the present government.

However, Mrs. Alison-Madueke, accused of several corrupt dealings, has stayed away from Nigeria since Mr. Buhari was sworn-in as president.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke was appointed Nigeria’s first female petroleum minister in February 2010, after former Vice President Goodluck Jonathan became acting president, a position she held till May 29, 2015 when Mr. Jonathan left office.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s tenure as petroleum minister turned out one of Nigeria’s most controversial, amid unending allegations of corruption.

Under her watch, dubious oil marketers stole trillions of naira of oil subsidy money. She retained her position after the House of Representative investigated the scandal and indicted the minister.

Probes by independent audit firms, including the KPMG and Pricewaterhousecoopers, confirmed billions of dollars of oil money were missing, the most notable being $20 billion in 2014.

Long before her stint in the oil and gas sector, Mrs. Alison-Madueke was investigated by the Nigerian Senate on allegation she paid N30.9 billion to contractors while she held office as transportation minister.

In 2009, the Senate also indicted Mrs. Alison-Madueke and recommended her for prosecution for allegedly transferring N1.2 billion into a private account of a toll company without due process.

Regardless of the mounting criticisms against her stewardship, Mrs. Alison-Maduke got elected in November 2014 as the first female president of oil cartel the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The former minister consistently denied any wrongdoing.

In June, after leaving office, she rejected all allegations of embezzlement, saying she never stole from Nigeria.

US Campus Massacre: Students killed by Gunman for been Christians!

A 26-year-old gunman identified as Chris Harper-Mercer opened fire on students at Umpqua Community College, Oregon and killed 10 while injuring another 7.

The killer marched into the college campus in Oregon on Thursday armed with a rifle and three handguns. He opened fire - after asking many victims whether they were Christian - leaving at least ten people dead including himself.

According to his profile on a dating site Harper-Mercer is 'mixed race,' a 'conservative Republican,' 'not religious' and lives with his mother - and appears to have been born in Britain.
He demanded that his victims lay on the ground and then made them stand up one at a time and state their religion before opening fire according to one traumatized eyewitness.

Anastasia Boylan, 18, was one of Harper-Mercer's victims who only survived by playing dead described her horrifying ordeal, saying that Harper-Mercer at one point asked who was Christian, and told them all to stand up.

'And they would stand up and he said, "Good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second,"' said Stacy.

'And then he shot and killed them.'

'At this time, we are reporting and can confirm 10 fatalities in the shooting,' Douglas County sheriff's deputies, Sheriff John Hanlin said Thursday evening.

Harper-Mercer's motive is still not known at this time, but he came armed with three pistols, a rifle, body armor and a large amount of ammunition.

Harper-Mercer wrote in a post this August about how much he admired Vester Flanagan, the Roanoke shooter who killed a cameraman and newscaster at the television station where he had been employed after getting fired. 

'On an interesting note, I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone,' wrote Harper-Mercer of Flanagan. 

'His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight.'

He closed by saying; 'Also, if anyone gets the chance, go on YouTube and see the footage of him shooting those people. It's a short video but good nonetheless. Will post more later.' 

Senator denies endorsing Bukola Saraki!

A PDP Senator representing Birnin-Kudu/Buji Federal Constituency of Jigawa state, Honourable Sabo Mohammed Nakudu has denied being part of the list of Senators who passed a vote of confidence on the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
According to Nakudu, he was not consulted before his name was included in the list of senators who signed vote of confidence on the Senator Bukola Saraki-led Senate on Tuesday.
The Senators had passed a vote of confidence on Saraki, who is currently standing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, amid speculations that he was going to be asked to step down pending the outcome of his trial.
The list of Senators purportedly endorsing the Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu-led senate had the names of 48 Senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and 35 from the majority All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the list, Nakudu’s name was on No 41.
However, in what looked like a back track, Senator Nakudu said “I want to assure my constituents that I am a loyal party man and committed to our great party”.
See a handwritten copy of Senator Nakudu’s purported statement below:

Independence Day Broadcast: Full text of President Buhari's Speech!

In celebration of the 55th year Independence day of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the nation via the state owned electronic media, NTA and FRCN...below is the full text of his speech..

1st is a day for joy and celebrations for us Nigerians whatever the circumstances we find ourselves in because it is the day, 55 years ago; we liberated ourselves from the shackles of colonialism and began our long march to nationhood and to greatness.

No temporary problems or passing challenges should stop us from honoring this day. Let us remind ourselves of the gifts God has given us. Our Creator has bequeathed to us Numbers – Nigeria is the ninth most populated country on the planet. We have in addition:

Arable land
Water
Forests
Oil and gas
Coastline
Solid minerals
We have all the attributes of a great nation. We are not there yet because the one commodity we have been unable to exploit to the fullest is unity of purpose. This would have enabled us to achieve not only more orderly political evolution and integration but also continuity and economic progress.

Countries far less endowed have made greater economic progress by greater coherence and unity of purpose.

Nonetheless, that we have remained together is an achievement we should all appreciate and try to consolidate. We have witnessed this year a sea change in our democratic development. The fact that an opposition party replaced an entrenched government in a free and fair election is indicative of the deeper roots of our democratic system. Whatever one’s views are, Nigerians must thank former President Jonathan for not digging-in in the face of defeat and thereby saving the country untold consequences.

As I said in my inaugural speech, I bear no ill will against anyone on past events. Nobody should fear anything from me. We are not after anyone. People should only fear the consequences of their actions. I hereby invite everyone, whatever his or her political view to join me in working for the nation.

My countrymen and women, every new government inherits problems. Ours was no different. But what Nigerians want are solutions, quick solutions not a recitation of problems inherited. Accordingly, after consultations with the Vice President, senior party leaders and other senior stakeholders, I quickly got down to work on the immediate, medium-term and long-term problems which we must solve if we are to maintain the confidence which Nigerians so generously bestowed on us in the March elections and since then.

As you know, I toured the neighboring countries, marshal a coalition of armed forces of the five nations to confront and defeat Boko Haram. I met also the G7 leaders and other friendly presidents in an effort to build an international coalition against Boko Haram. Our gallant armed forces under new leadership have taken the battle to the insurgents, and severely weakened their logistical and infrastructural capabilities. Boko Haram are being scattered and are on the run. That they are resorting to shameless attacks on soft targets such as I.D.P. camps is indicative of their cowardice and desperation. I have instructed security and local authorities to tighten vigilance in vulnerable places.

On power, government officials have held a series of long sessions over several weeks about the best way to improve the nation’s power supply in the safest and most cost effective way. In the meantime, improvement in the power supply is moderately encouraging. By the same token, supply of petrol and kerosene to the public has improved throughout the country. All the early signs are that within months the whole country would begin to feel a change for the better.

Preliminary steps have been taken to sanitize NNPC and improve its operations so that the inefficiency and corruption could be reduced to a minimum. Those of our refineries which can be serviced and brought back into partial production would be enabled to resume operations so that the whole sordid business of exporting crude and importing finished products in dubious transactions could be stopped.

In addition to NNPC, I have ordered for a complete audit of our other revenue generating agencies mainly CBN, FIRS, Customs, NCC, for better service delivery to the nation. Prudent housekeeping is needed now more than ever in view of the sharp decline in world market oil prices. It is a challenge we have to face squarely. But what counts is not so much what accrues but how we manage our resources that is important.

We have seen in the last few years how huge resources were mismanaged, squandered and wasted. The new APC government is embarking on a clean-up, introducing prudence and probity in public financing.

At an early stage, the Federal Government addressed the issue of salary arrears in many states, a situation capable of degenerating into social unrest. The APC government stepped in to provide short-term support to the owing states and enabled them to pay off the backlog and restore the livelihood of millions of Nigerians.

Fellow Nigerians, there have been a lot of anxiety and impatience over the apparent delay in announcement of ministers. There is no cause to be anxious. Our government set out to do things methodically and properly. We received the handing over notes from the outgoing government only four days before taking over. Consequently, the Joda Transition Committee submitted its Report on the reorganization of Federal Government structure after studying the hand over notes. It would have been haphazard to announce ministers when the government had not finalized the number of ministries to optimally carry the burden of governance.

Anyway, the wait is over. The first set of names for ministerial nominees for confirmation has been sent to the senate. Subsequent lists will be forwarded in due course. Impatience is not a virtue. Order is more vital than speed. Careful and deliberate decisions after consultations get far better results. And better results for our country is what the APC government for CHANGE is all about.

I would like to end my address this morning on our agenda for CHANGE. Change does not just happen. You and I and all of us must appreciate that we all have our part to play if we want to bring CHANGE about. We must change our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and public trust. We must change our unruly behavior in schools, hospitals, market places, motor parks, on the roads, in homes and offices. To bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citizens.

Happy Independence Celebrations. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

And Long live the President!

Ministerial List: Buhari to become Petroleum Minister!

Buhari dropped an hint on what his ministerial cabinet may look like in one of the interviews he granted one of the foreign media in his hotel shortly before departing New York.

“I will serve as the Minister of Petroleum Resources myself,” Buhari told his interviewer.

The President was in New York to participate in the 70th United Nations General Assembly.

The nation’s petroleum sector has been said to be enmeshed in corruption with millions of dollars said to be missing in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Shortly after assuming office, Buhari sacked and replaced the management of the company.

The new management had started a general reorganisation of the firm.

Buhari had on Monday said the trial of those who looted the NNPC would commence soon.

Meanwhile, ministerial list that President Muhammadu Buhari will submit to the Senate on Wednesday (today)will not contain all the members of his proposed cabinet, from reports.

“What the Senate will be getting on Tuesday or Wednesday will not be a complete list. The names will be sent in batches but quite a number will be on this first list while others will be compiled and sent later,”  a government source confirmed.

The President may have decided to send the names in batches in order to meet the September deadline he set for himself rather than waiting to compile the full list and fail to beat the deadline.

The issue of the list has however been generating concerns among members of Buhari’s delegation to the 70th United Nations General Assembly holding in New York.

Many of the politicians on the President’s delegation who felt they might be considered for ministerial positions were getting in touch with Nigeria intermittently on the telephone for latest information on the list while they also kept making themselves visible for Buhari.

Some of them who could not hide their anxiety were heard asking Nigerian journalists if they had latest information on the list.

Prominent chiefs of the All Progressives Congress on the President’s delegation include a former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi; a former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; and a former member of the House of Representatives, Abike Dabiri-Erewa among others.

The Punch

Falae confirms ransom was paid,narrates his ordeal!

Chief Olu Falae, spoke with newsmen yesterday when he  received the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Alani Akinrinade at his residence in Akure.
Chief Falae said his abductors threatened to kill him every 30 minutes until they received information that money had been given to them as demanded.

He said: “There were six of them with three or four guns and every half an hour or so, they will say, ‘Baba we are going to kill you if you don’t give us money. We are going to kill you.’

They were Fulani, they spoke Hausa.”
“The cattle rearers have been giving me a hard time for the past two or three years. Because I have a dam on the farm, so they like to bring their cattle there to drink water, then they eat other people’s crops,” he stated.

“This time they ate up my maize farm, two hectares. We took pictures, and it was videoed, the police went there.

“They were asked to pay compensation, they begged and paid half of what we claimed and we accepted it.

“That was about two months ago. Whether it was one of them who went to bring his brothers to come and deal ‘with this wicked man,’ I don’t know. It is plausible. Absolutely plausible.

Explaining how he was abducted, the former minister said: “When the hoodlums came, they slashed me with their cutlasses, they said I was not cooperating. And they dragged me barefooted into the bush.

“After dragging me around for about two hours, they stopped somewhere for us to rest and there they asked me to phone my wife and tell her that I have been kidnapped and taken out of Ondo State by car which was a lie.

“It was about 2.30pm on Monday we started walking with very few stops until 2am the following morning. I suspect that I must have covered a minimum of 15km. That morning I did not take anything.

“ So all day, I had no food, no water and I walked close to 15km. How I survived I cannot really remember. I had no food in my stomach, I had no shoes, my clothes were torn to shreds.

“At some point, one of them gave me rubber slippers. We walked until about 2am. At some point, they called for an okada. 

“At about 2.30am, the okada man took me away and I had no clue where we were going. Finally, they dumped me somewhere. We stayed there until I was released on Thursday.

“In that place, we all slept on bare ground, unfortunately, the rain came in the night and I was thoroughly drenched where I was lying down.

“One of them brought a small umbrella to cover my head, my head was covered, but the rest of my body was not covered.

“They offered me bread, but I told them I cannot eat it. I demanded for a bottle of coke, which was what I drank everyday to have the strength to survive and to continue the march, because they were permanently moving.

“They were changing locations at two to three times a day. I suspect because they did not want the police to succeed in tracing them.”

“On Wednesday, one of them came and said, ‘look we are going to leave here on Thursday morning. Since we cannot leave you here alone, if we don’t get what we want, we are going to kill you.’  And they said they gave me until 3pm and if at 3pm they don’t get the money that they would execute me. I thank God that at 21 minutes to  3pm, one of them came and said, ‘the money don complete.”

I was released same Thursday in the bush and i had to walk all the way out until I found an okada rider,  who gave me a lift to Owo.

“The place was about 10km from Owo town. The place was between Owo and Ifon. And I walked most of the distance between my farm to that place, that is about 25km that we had to trek.

 “I did not break down, but I want to tell you that when I got back home I became completely exhausted. But I am now 80 per cent fit and I know in the next few days, I will be up again.”

Chief Falae, however, warned that “this sort of thing should not be allowed to happen again as it could result to even graver consequences.

“It is not because of me. As for me, I am a very humble person, but by virtue of what God has made me and the status God has given me, it is an insult to our race that a man like me could be abducted by a bunch of hoodlums.

“By the way, one of them told me that if after I had left them, talk nonsense that they will come and catch me again. That is the kind of insult I received.”

Earlier, Akinrinade  had described  the recent abduction of Chief Falae as an insult on the entire Yoruba nation.

Akinrinade asked the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the spate of kindnapping in the country.

According to him, kidnapping is more pronounced in the South West now. He added that criminals now penetrate  Yorubaland more than before.

He said the recent abduction of Falae was the height of insult not only on the Yoruba race in  South West Nigeria, but also the nation as a whole.

The former minister later said that only two of the kidnappers could speak some English. He said they were between the ages of 25 and 35.

 Falae said he was not surprised that the police could not trace and arrest the kidnappers because of the manner of their movement and operation.

 “These fellows were permanently on the move. Day and night they were walking. Through farm lands, through water, through swamps…they were scared, they knew they could be traced with GPRS, that was why they were running around all the time,” he said.

“I was not surprised at all that the police could not trace them before they decided to let me go.”

Earlier, Akinrinade  had described  the recent abduction of chief Falae    as an insult on the entire Yoruba nation.

“This is a big insult to the Yoruba nation. Chief Olu Falae was  traumatized in the hands of these hoodlums. This is a gentle man who is making farming for a living and doing well with it,”
 
He said “the fact that the Yoruba people are hospitable in their  dealings with other tribes should not be a basis for dis-respecting its leaders including its culture and norms.”

 

Nigeria witness Lunar Eclipse today!

Lagos, Abuja and some other Nigerian cities witnessed a very pronounced reddish darkness in the wee hours of today.

This is as a result of a lunar eclipse, which had earlier been announced. The eclipse occurred on schedule as expected by the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA)

The scenario was expected to commence around 2.am and continue intermittently till about 6.22am, the agency said.

In a statement, Head Media and Corporate Commissions of the Agency, Dr. Felix Ale said, the lunar eclipse will be visible in all the various locations in the country from 1.11am, with total eclipse at 3:47am and end by 6.22am.

According to the agency, the lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the earth comes in-between the sun and the moon, and the earth casts its shadow on the moon so that the moon appears reddish.
The statement said: “The lunar eclipse which is also called the blood moon will be observed in some regions around the world.

The NASRDA spokesman also dismissed the on-going speculation in some quarters that the lunar eclipse will last for two weeks, saying it will only be observed within five hours and eleven minutes in the early hours of Monday, September 28, 2015.