Happenings

Despite proclamations by President Goodluck Jonathan during his Media Chat on Monday that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi remains the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, SaharaReporters has learnt that the State Security Service has withdrawn his security protection. A source familiar with the action told SaharaReporters that the CBN governor’s security detail was removed shortly after the President concluded the Media Chat.  The strategy seems to aim at exposing Mr. Sanusi to danger arising from the suspended CBN governor’s position on the missing $20 billion at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).  Sanusi’s position began to generate international pressure and embarrassment for the Jonathan government following reports by some western media outlets knowledgeable about the fraud perpetrated by cronies of the President.  Those reports continue to say that Sanusi was ousted for exposing the rot at the NNPC. Adding to the pressure on the government, the North...

President Goodluck Jonathan said Monday night that Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who was suspended as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN last Thursday may return to his job to hand over to his successor if he is not guilty of the allegations of financial misdemeanour levelled against him in the report of Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria. Indeed, according to him, Sanusi remains the Governor of CBN but was only asked to step aside to allow the bank’s board resolve issues raised in the 2012 financial audit of the apex bank. Jonathan added that Sanusi would be prosecuted only if a clear fraud is established against him: “If Sanusi has no case to answer, how will you prosecute someone who has no case?” he asked. Jonathan, middle, and the media panel On why only the CBN governor was singled out for suspension based on the report of the Financial Reporting Council, when the report indicted almost every member of the CBN leadership, the President said the governor wa...

A 12-year-old boy accused of having consensual s*x with his family’s housemaid and impregnating her has been acquitted. The Emirati schoolboy and the 28-year-old Ethiopian maid were said to have indulged in two s*xual encounters at his family’s home in Ajman, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, in June. Prosecutors accused the pair of having s*x outside of marriage. The dalliances, they said, resulted in the maid falling pregnant. Medical reports confirmed the 28-year-old is due to give birth in February. The boy has been acquitted in the Appeal Court, after the Ajman Court of First Instance condemned him and the Ethiopian maid each to six months behind bars. In line with the original judgement, the maid will be deported once she has served her stint in jail. Defence lawyer Eisa Bin Haider, hired by the Emirati family to defend their son, said the story had been fabricated by the maid, who was involved in a s*xual affair with a third party. He said his young client was...

Dispelling recent reports in the tech blogosphere to the contrary, BlackBerry announced this morning that it is working to bring BBM, BlackBerry’s popular and increasingly cross-platform mobile-to-mobile messaging service, to Windows Phone, in partnership with Nokia. BBM will also be present on Nokia’s new Android-based Nokia X smartphone platform when it launches in a few months. “BBM continues to grow in popularity as millions of people use our mobile platform for chatting and connecting with friends or colleagues, and we are very excited that we will soon welcome Windows Phone and Nokia X users to the BBM community,” said John Sims, President, Global Enterprise Solutions at BlackBerry in a statement. “Today marks an exciting moment for Nokia,” agreed Bryan Biniak, Vice President and GM of Developer Relations, Nokia Corporation. “By bringing BBM to the Windows Phone and Nokia X communities, our customers will be able to experience this popular global messaging app.” BBM, which ...

A New York woman is accused of killing her newborn baby just hours after giving birth. Santos Elena Ruiz Solano, a 26-year-old Central Islip resident, was arrested Thursday and charged with  second-degree murder , the New York Daily News reported. Solano, seen at left, was a live-in housekeeper for the owners of a mansion in West Islip. On Feb. 16, Solano gave birth to a baby girl inside the mansion before allegedly killing the child, unbeknownst to the owners. She is also accused of putting the baby’s body in a plastic bag and throwing it in the trash right outside the residence, according to NBC New York. Long Island News reported that the baby suffered a fractured skull before it died. The baby’s body was discovered after Solano went to the hospital due to complications from the birth.

The Delta state Police have arrested a carpenter, Christopher David for allegedly selling his daughter to ritualists. Christopher was said to have been reported to the police by his wife, Florence after he gave her some part of the N200,000 he was paid for selling his daughter to the ritualists in Lagos.. It was gathered that in October 2013, Christopher’s wife, Florence David had given birth to their baby girl but was taken away from her after her husband deceived her that they could not take care of the child due to their poor living condition. The husband however handed the baby over to a woman identified as Grace (surname withheld). DSP Celestina Kalu, Police spokesperson in the state, confirmed that the suspect has been arrested and would be charged to court after investigations have been completed. Source: Leadership

A 65-year-old man has been arrested in Asaba, Delta State along with his three sons for robbery. Also arrested were three other robbery suspects, who were dislodged from an uncompleted building allegedly provided by the father of three. State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Celestina Kalu, who paraded the suspects at the Police ‘B’ Division, Asaba, weekend, said: “We are taking the fight to their (criminal) hideouts, so there is no hiding place for criminal elements. Wherever they are we will smoke them out.” She said the suspects (names withheld) were arrested following a distress call by a resident at Oduke, outskirts of Asaba, who was attacked  at night and N72,000 cash stolen from him. “Following the distress call,  a police team was drafted to the area from B Division Asaba and on sighting the police, the robbers fired at them and there was a gun battle in which two of the robbers were brought down while some of them escaped,” the PPRO said. She a...

L AGOS —Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP,  has chided the  Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, AGF, Mr. Mohammed Adoke over his alleged advice to  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that the corporation has legal obligation to remit only its net earnings after deducting cost of its operations to the government’s covers. The AGF was quoted to have advised the NNPC based on its  Act to remit only to the federation account, its net earnings. The NGO called on the AGF to order the corporation to submit itself for probe by the anti- corruption agencies over the alleged missing $20 billion oil money. “We, therefore, ask Mr. Adoke to urgently refer the NNPC to appropriate anti-corruption agencies so that the confusion around the missing $20 billion oil money can be resolved once and for all, and suspected perpetrators brought to justice.” In the statement by  its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the gro...

As controversy rages over the suspension of Mallam Sanusi Lamido, a renowned economist, Professor Pat Utomi has berated the tenure of Lamido as a Central Bank governor, describing his original appointment as “a huge mistake” Reacting to the suspension of the controversial apex bank chief in a chat in Abuja, the Director of Lagos Business School, said Sanusi should never have been appointed as a Central Bank governor in the first place, declaring “it should not have happened”  Utomi joined two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana and Chief Mike Ozhekome who had issued legal positions on the suspension of the apex bank chief.  While Falana blamed Sanusi for not resigning when so directed by President Goodluck Jonathan, Ozhekome cited alleged infringements of extant rules to justify Sanusi's suspension.  Utomi, however, faulted the nomination and appointment of Sanusi five years ago on the ground that the suspended bank chief lacked certain qualities of a Central Ban...

More facts have emerged over the probe of the allegedly missing N20 billion by the Senate finance committee as feelers from within showed that nothing incriminating has been found against the oil ministry and its agencies.  Checks inside the committee showed that rather than the big discovery of fraud and mismanagement that neccesitated the probe,senators have discovered that former Central Bank Governor ,Sanusi Lamido raised false alarm and misled the committee.  The committee is also said to be unhappy that the minister of finance, Okonjo Iweala was not forthcoming in her testimonies especially when it was clear that Sanusi was literally lying in his presentations.  The committee was said to be shocked that the presidential directive which the oil ministry was accused of disobeying was never concluded and that it even contained contradictory provisions which make it implementation impossible.  The committee was also unhappy as the case was presented as if it is Die...

GODSDAY ORUBEBE BEVERLY HILLS, February 24, (THEWILL) - In what appears to be a desperate bid to win the 2015 Delta State governorship election, the out of favour former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, has begged Chief James Ibori, a former governor of Delta State, for forgiveness and support. THEWILL gathered from sources close to Ibori that the sacked Minister paid him a visit at the Long Lartin Prison in the United Kingdom, where he is doing time for corruption and money laundering on Thursday, February 13, 2014, Orubebe, who was recently fired from his position by his kinsman, President Goodluck Jonathan over his dismal performance and his inability to deliver on the all important East-West Highway project, asked Ibori to forgive him for teaming up with the President and others in his kitchen cabinet to okay his arrest by the Interpol in Dubai on May 13, 2010, at the request of the British government. Ibori, who still commands an impressive followership in D...