Happenings

There  was a mild drama last week at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo, as the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the institution, Dr. Abiodun Olufemi Omotosho, went into hiding to escape the arrest of the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when the operatives stormed the place. The operatives, it was gathered, went to the hospital to verify the claims of the CMD over the CTscans and other equipment worth several millions of naira claimed to have purchased by the management team led by the CMD. The visit by the EFCC operatives was sequel to the petition wrote by some medical doctors of the hospital against the CMD over alleged diversion of money meant for the purchase of STscans and other medical equipment. Sources at FMC revealed that officials of the anti graft agency who went straight to the CMD’s office did not meet him on seat, but met his secretary who claimed the director was in an important meeting. It was gathered that the EFCC oper...

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has uncovered a fresh $22.8 billion “off balance sheet items” hidden from the financial records of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The sum represents NNPC’s alternative funding/financing arrangements with its Joint Venture partners in form of third party financing from external financial markets and Modified Carry Arrangement (MCA) which are loans from existing JV partners (international oil companies). NEITI’s executive secretary Hajiya Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed made the disclosure yesterday during the second day of the ongoing joint House of Representatives investigative public hearing into alleged shady transactions between the NNPC and two top oil companies in Switzerland, Vitol and Trafigura. NEITI’s executive secretary, in a memorandum to the joint House committees on Petroleum Resources Uptream, Downstream and Justice conducting the probe, also called for transparency in NNPC’s alternative f...

The discovery by eagle eyed Twitter users that the Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media, Mr Reno Omokri, launched a smear campaign roping the recent upsurge in terrorist insurgencies around the country around the neck of suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, should be seen for what it is: an insidious act unbecoming of a Presidential aide and which should cost Mr Omokri his job. A regular Twitter user, Feyi Fawehinmi (@DoupleEph) had asked Journalist and Blogger, Abang Mercy (@AbangMercy) to forward him an email making the rounds and received by the latter linking the worrying spate of killings in which more than 200 persons had lost their lives (including 43 college kids) in Nigeria’s turbulent North East region in the space of four days, to the suspended Sanusi Lamido who has since dragged President Jonathan to court for legal breaches in ousting him. The revelations that followed from Fawehinmi’s Twitter Timeline would...

Two officers of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, were ambushed and killed by police officers attached to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation according to information relived by eyewitnesses and also confirmed with the spokesperson of the NSCDC in Lagos, Okeh Emmanuel. Two officers involved in anti-vandal activities were fatally shot as they drove in the NSCDC operational vehicle after arresting four vandals of pipelines belonging to the NNPC after they were caught siphoning fuel. Some officers were also injured in the attack which took place in the Ikorodu axis of Lagos. The vandals escaped after the fatal attack leading NSDCDC officials to believe the vandals were in cahoot with the police. A wounded officer said the vandals made several phone calls to the police officers before they opened fire on the NSCDC patrol van. A police ID card, a gun and Walkie-Talkie belonging to one Inspector Sunday Gabriel were retrieved from the scene of the attack. The Niger...

In its bid to further defend how it spent the allegedly missing $10.8bn, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Monday stated that the fund was not missing but was used by Nigerians. Specifically, the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, declared that if the fund was missing, then it was missing in the pockets of Nigerians. In what seemed to be a reply to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the NNPC boss stated that the corporation had persistently filed-in its claims to the Federation Account monthly. While explaining how the fund was spent, Yakubu said, “The $10.8bn is not a missing money; if it is missing, (then) is missing to the pockets of the beneficiaries who are you and me.” Okonjo-Iweala had stated that the NNPC would provide evidence to show that the fund was judiciously spent. “If the money was spent on operational cost, let us see evidence that it was spent in an authorised way. And if not, let the amount be remitted to the Fe...

On Saturday, 22nd February, a groom called off his wedding after the Redeemed Christian Church of God RCCG that was supposed to wed them conducted a pregnancy test and it came out positive. After keeping guests waiting for about two hours the groom came out and announced to the astonished guests that he was no longer interested in the marriage. Souvenir from the wedding The bride, Cynthia who insisted she was not pregnant did another pregnancy test in a different hospital which came out negative. The church did a second test with their own doctor and again their own test came out positive again. The groom said he had never slept with the girl hence he couldn’t go on with the wedding. Despite the wedding being called off, guests still sat down to eat and drink and even pack souvenirs. To make things even more interesting, the groom’s family went on to pack the wedding cake, wine and other drinks as well as souvenirs even though those things were paid for by the bride’s f...

Mass killing of school children at the Federal Government College in the Buni Yadi area of Yobe was shrouded in mystery after reports revealed that only male students were killed. It has been learnt, however that the extremists intentionally spared the female students. According to the officials, female students at the co-ed school were spared – and that the attackers instead told them to go home and get married and to abandon their Western education (Boko Haram – meaning “against Western education”). It would be recalled that the attackers set a locked dormitory on fire in the early hours of Tuesday. The terrified students escaped through the windows, they were shot and their throats were slit. Some were burned to ashes.The massacre was followed by violent reactions by Nigerians and top politicians, urging the authorities to put an end to bloodshed in the country.

A yet to be identified man on Monday successfully traded a 15-year old boy, Seun Aderinwale, for two bags of rice valued at N20,000 at Igando in Alimosho area of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria. According to eyewitness account, the man, whose address is unknown, went to 4, Ifesowapo Street, Igando, on Monday morning to buy two bags of rice from a shop owned by a woman identified as Iya Ibrahim. The rice seller was not available at the time but her son, Ibrahim, agreed to the man’s proposal to drop Seun, an Aluminium apprentice, as collateral, in order to collect the two bags  of rice and return later to pay. However, when the shop owner returned in the afternoon, she was surprised to see Seun who was dropped there in exchange for the two bags of rice taken away by the unidentified man. When the man failed to return, the 15-year old was held hostage until evening when the pastor of his church, a Celestial Church of Christ around the area, saw him at the shop looking desponden...