Happenings

T he Nigerian Petroleum Development Company has denied that $6bn proceeds from a third party crude sale arrangement were paid into its account by its parent company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The NNPC had in both oral and written submissions to the Senate Committee on Finance investigating the alleged non-remittance of $20bn oil proceeds to the Federation Account on Thursday said the NPDC was in possession of the amount. But the Managing Director, NPDC, Mr. Victor Briggs, told the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led committee that he did not receive the money from the NNPC and that his agency did not rely on the corporation for the funding of its activities. He said, “We did not have the money in the NPDC account; we did not receive the $6bn from the NNPC. Like I stated in our letter; from the account managed with the NNPC, royalties and taxes are paid. “We received only funds that are required to fund the budget. The specific amount of that I can provide.” Surpr...

First of all the CEO of the financial reporting council is a allegedly a man of questionable characters who has been abusing his office by sexsually harassing a married woman in his office http://elombah.com/index.php/reports/16893-jim-osayande-obazee-s-continuing-harassment-of-a-hapless-civil-servant  the credibility of such a fellow should be considered before considering his report on an individual how much more an institution. Jim Osayande Obazee who spearheaded the establishment of the financial reporting council of Nigeria   should be investigated to know his relationship with any of the 5 Bank executives removed by Sanusi Lamido in August 2009 before he generated his report in June 2013 http://www.globalreportersvienna.com/2013/10/he-sexual-harassment-of-mrs-abimbola.html Xriz.

By SaharaReporters, New York SaharaReporters has obtained the original copy of a report by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria that President Goodluck Jonathan office claimed he relied upon to suspend the Central Bank Governor of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi last week Thursday.  To see and download the rest of the document visit  SaharaReporters   facebook fan page  here

In the beginning As at the time I came into office, several things had collapsed. From banks to stock exchange, they had crashed. Inflation was at 15.6percent three months before I became Central Bank Governor; there was already instability in every sector of the economy. When I look back, I thank God for the people who supported us and criticized us as well because criticism has made us stronger. Also, when I look back, I can point to several things that have changed after our arrival and till date. Keeping inflation down For the first time in a long while, we have been able to keep inflation at about 7percent since January 2013 and it is still like that up till this moment. As far as instability and exchange rate is concerned, we have worked tirelessly to ensure things work out well for the economy. We also introduced cash reduction in the system. Although most people didn’t like it because they felt it will add more problem to the exchange rate because people want to buy do...

Men of the Cross River Police Command have arrested a middle-aged woman, Ene Edem Okon, for allegedly inflicting bodily harm and tying the hands and legs of her 11-year-old daughter, Queeneth Ene Edem, for being wayward. Police made the arrest after Queeneth appeared in her school, Government Primary School, Akim, with multiple wounds on her chest, stomach and buttocks prompting the school authorities to report the matter to the police at the Akim Police Station. The poor girl narrated her ordeal to Vanguard, saying, she left home at Eneyo village in Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state on February 17, for the Maternity Junction Settlement, some four kilometers away from home to meet her cousin, one Blessing, but did not return home. “We were waiting for Blessing’s friend from whom she wanted to collect something but she delayed in coming and we waited till night and, because we were afraid of going back home, we slept in an uncompleted building at the Maternity Junction,...

Nollywood actress, Yvonne Jegede who recently landed in a messy  chest surgery scandal  upon her return to the movie industry in a recent interview talks about her selling point, ideal man. Yvonne Jegede who featured in Tuface Idibia’s “African Queen” video made a stunning comeback to acting after several years of being away to study abroad in University in Cyprus. Her ideal man I don’t even know what it is any more. But I think people at different ages have different perspection in respect of what an ideal man is. He should be  more intelligent than myself. I need somebody I can learn from him. He should also be able to take care of himself.  That’s  an ideal man for me. He should not be ugly. On her selling point I think it is my brain. Talking about the physical things that attracts men to me, it depends. Some people say, it’s my eyes, others prefer  my lips and my b**bs. So, I do not know. When I love into the mirror, I love everything about ...

Sylvia Oluchy, a fast rising actress in an interview with BestofNollywood, was asked if there’s a limit to what she can do on set and if she could go nüde for a movie role and here is what the actress said; don’t have any boundaries because my body is my laptop. Others have their laptops and files, what I have is my body and voice, Even the concept of nüdity, I don’t have any problems what so ever, but it has to make sense, if it enriches the story and is done tastefully, I mean sometimes you can see nüdity been done for a good reason, like in the west, they could take off their clothes to protest. Like I said, I don’t have problem with nüdity, I just want it to make sense”.

The UN Security Council has adopted a unanimous but non-binding resolution, calling for humanitarian aid convoys to be allowed access across war-torn Syria, but diplomats immediately voiced doubt about its effectiveness. Syria’s staunch ally Russia, with support from China, has blocked three previous resolutions aimed at pressuring the Damascus regime since the crisis began in March 2011, with an estimated half of all Syrians urgently awaiting immediate help. But Moscow and Beijing, two of the five permanent Security Council members, did not do so this time, sending a strong message to President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is accused of serious rights violations in attempting to hold on to power. The resolution does not threaten sanctions but it does express the council’s intention to take “further steps” if the resolution is not implemented. The government and rebels hold several areas in the country under siege, leaving tens of thousands of people suffering from lack of fo...

Mexican Marines have arrested the world’s most wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. He was captured Saturday by and publicly hauled away in handcuffs, ending his blood-stained reign after a 13-year manhunt. Stemming from US-Mexican coordination, the arrest deals a blow to the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s biggest drug-trafficking organization, an empire that stretches along the Pacific coast and smuggles drugs to the United States, Europe and Asia. Guzman was captured at 6:40 am local time in the Pacific beach city of Mazatlan, Sinaloa state, along with an unidentified associate “without a single shot fired,” Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said. “There was no damage and nobody was hurt,” Karam said in a brief news conference in a Mexico City navy base where Guzman was later paraded in front of television cameras. Guzman, most wanted drug lord arrested The 56-year-old Sinaloa cartel kingpin wore a white shirt and jeans and sported thick black hair and a mustach...

Allegations are circulating in the French media that Barack Obama and superstar singer Beyonce are having a serious affair  They emerged just as President Francois Hollande arrived in America on an official state visit without his former partner, Valérie Trierweiler. Rumors of the affair between Obama and Beyonce  – who is married – were first made on the radio station,  Europe 1,  this morning. It was also rumored that  The Washington Post  was about to break the story, but Kristine Coratti, director of communications for the newspaper, said: “I can tell you that it’s false,” adding “ The Washington Post  does not produce articles” of this kind. The existence of the alleged relationship was revealed by Pascal Rostain, the photographer who last month took photographs of President Hollande secretly visiting a Paris apartment on a moped and wearing a crash helmet. The allegations of an affair between Hollande and actress Julie Gayet were even...

The suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has faulted his suspension by President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday, saying it was “unconstitutional” because the presidency did not follow due process. Sanusi, who spoke in an exclusive interview with Channels Television on thursday, maintained that he would explore some form of legal intervention over his suspension. He queried the double standards employed in arriving at the conclusion that his leadership of the apex bank was characterized by financial recklessness saying that “just a little over a week ago, the petroleum minister and the GMD of NNPC, sat in front of the Senate on national television, actually saying they have paid billions of dollars on subsidy of kerosene without appropriation”. This, according to Sanusi was happening in flagrant disregard of an existing presidential directive to stop the payment of subsidy on the product since 2009, wondering why “no one has called thi...

Retired President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, yesterday added his voice to the debate surrounding the suspension of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, saying President Goodluck Jonathan’s action was pre-emptive and ill-advised. The respected jurist in his reaction to Thursday’s suspension of Sanusi said that, “All I know is that the point has been made that CBN’s governor cannot be removed from office without taking the matter to the Senate for two- third of the Senators’ vote. And there is no provision in the Constitution which I know of that allows the president to suspend him. “If the president wants him out of office he should follow due process and we cannot resist the temptation that apparently because Sanusi was complaining about what has happened at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), he is now made to face this situation. “I think it is not in the interest of the president or the country to go throug...

A student of University of Ibadan was raped and killed in on February 19th 2014 in a home she shares with her sister at Opeyemi street, Gbagi in Ibadan. 27-year-old Taiwo Omolara Shittu, a 500 level student of the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management was found dead lying lifeless in a pool of blood at about 5:30 p. m that day. Her sister returned from work to meet her dead with her pants down to her ankle and machete wounds in her head. The murder weapon, a machete reportedly belonging to the man that cuts grass for them, was found in the room with blood stains. According to reports, the labourer, Alakia Adenubi has been arrested in connection with the crime. Adenubi has denied involvement with the murder of Shittu. The case has been transferred to the State CID.

A seven page letter written by Mr. Erastus  Akingbola alleging that Intercontinental Bank PLC was fraudulently acquired by Sanusi , Saraki and Lai Alabi.     You can download it here http://thewillnigeria.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SANUSI-AND-BUKOLA-SARAKI.pdf

Members of the All Progressives Congress in the Senate have demanded the recall of the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, threatening to challenge the suspension which it described as violation of CBN Act in the court. In a statement by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, the suspension was inimical to the process of good governance and rule of law. While admitting the prerogative of the President to hire and fire, Akume said such action must however, be guided by strict observance of laid down principles in the overriding national interest. He said if the president was prepared to restore confidence in the oil industry, “he should as well sack the Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke as well as the top management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. “The whistle blower who should know it all is being illegally and unconstitutionally suspended to safeguard and protect the perpetrators of corruption in the petroleu...

A pastor’s wife, Mrs Eunice Ajayi, 55, has been murdered in cold blood by a 25-year-old University drop-out identified as Jerry over her refusal to be r*ped. The suspected killer was said to have been rusticated from two institutions in Ondo State for being a member of a secret cult. The woman was hacked to death when she refused to be r*ped by the suspect who is now on the run. The deceased’s husband who rushed to the scene to save his dying wife was also macheted by the suspect. He is presently recuperating at the hospital. Eyewitnesses told Vanguard that the alleged killer visited the house of the Pastor located at Peace-land Road,along the Expressway in Akure metropolis and attempted to r*pe the deceased. Jerry who has been eyeing the woman reportedly came that day with the sole purpose of having his way but the Pastor’s wife resisted. This, according to report, infuriated the suspect who allegedly brought out a machete which he used to hack the deceased . Several ma...

Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Mike Ozekhome, on Friday said President Goodluck Jonathan’s suspension of Lamido Sanusi as Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was in order. The human rights activist in a contrary opinion to the views expressed by some lawyers argued that the suspension was legally right. “Constitutionally and legally, what President Jonathan did was correct. He does not require the consent of the National Assembly to do so”, Ozekhome said. “Anyone who is an employee has to know that he is answerable to his employer. You cannot bite the finger that feeds you. “The Nigerian Constitution and the CBN Act give the President the authority to suspend or remove the Governor of the CBN”, he said. Ozekhome, who spoke in a parley with reporters in Abuja, claimed that Sanusi had deviated from his core mandate of leading the apex bank to the path of monetary stability. “A governor of a Central Bank in any part of the world should be seen ...

Father of the slain banker, Mr. George Oyakhire, has said he would not rejoice over the death penalty handed to his son-in-law. Oyakhire, a retired Nigerian Customs Service officer, told one of our correspondents that he loved Akolade like a son and he was sad that things turned out the way they did. He said, “The Bible says that you should not rejoice at the downfall of your enemy. I feel bad about all this because this was a boy I assisted in every way I could. “He even said when giving evidence in court that we were close and this is very true. I assisted him when he needed me and even though he was jobless, my daughter (Titilayo) also helped him. “I am happy the judge berated Akolade’s parents for telling lies in court. They bad-mouthed my daughter and even claimed that she committed suicide. I am happy that my daughter has been vindicated.  I have also been vindicated because I told the whole truth in court. I leave everything to God”. Akolade’s marriage to his late ...

PRESS RELEASE BY THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) CAUCUS IN THE SENATE ON SUSPENSION OF GOVERNOR OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA, MALAM SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI BY PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN This morning, President Goodluck Jonathan announced the suspension of Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati directed that the most senior Deputy Governor of the CBN, Dr Sarah Alade will serve as Acting Governor “until the conclusion of on-going investigations into breaches of enabling laws, due process and mandate of the CBN”. Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC ) in the Senate hereby unequivocally condemn the action of the President as absolutely illegal, and, therefore, reject it in its entirety. While we will not engage the President on his allegations against Malam Sanusi, we want to refer him to the relevant CBN Act of 2007 on the appointment and r...

The suspension of MALLAM SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is nothing but a fight back by the powerful forces of corruption in the structure of the Nigerian State. It is sad that a regime that seeks to be perceived as fighting corruption can have the effrontery to suspend a CBN governor who has been revealing leakages in the fuel subsidy scam in Nigeria.  The position of the law is that the right to suspend must be expressly stated; it cannot be implied (See Warburton v. Taff Vale Railway Co. (1902) 18 TLR. 420). Section 8(1) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007 provides that the Governor and Deputy Governors “shall be appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate”. In the same way, the proviso to section 11 (2) of the CBN Act states that the removal of the Governor, Deputy Governor and Director of the CBN by the President is subject to being supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate.  From the foregoing provisions o...