News and Gist Blog in Nigeria,
So this lady, Ahemen attended a walk out programme on Depression with Ex BBnaija housemate,Kemen in Abuja ,she posted the pictures on her facebook page and got hilarious comments from people, most people simply typed " Be Careful"
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Former Aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, took to his twitter handle to react to the report shared by Premium Times that the Minister of Finance, KemiAdeosun never did the mandatory NYSC scheme and that the certificate she possesses now was forged
Only a primitive and savage cow-loving herdsman can appoint a low class cockney-accented peasant from the slums of East-End London and a barely-educated misfit with a forged NYSC certificate as Min.of Finance. No wonder we are in a recession! Its time for Kemi Adeosun to resign!
https://mobile.twitter.com/realFFK/status/1015568556975710210
Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately order the sack, arrest and arraignment of Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun for alleged criminal forgery of her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate.Minister for Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun
The party said on no circumstance should President Buhari shield the minister from the wrath of the law, adding that Nigerians were becoming tired of the kid’s glove treatment meted out to indicted officials of the Buhari government in the past.
In a statement issued Saturday by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said the Minister’s NYSC certificate scandal was a vindication of its position that the Buhari government is not as upright as it wants Nigerians and other citizens of the world to believe.
“The world can now see how the Buhari Presidency has been concealing sharp practices under it. We can now see why there is humongous corruption under President Buhari’s watch and why Mr. President has refused to take any concrete steps to check the sleazes in his administrations.Perhaps such ‘artful dodgers’ were deliberately hired and placed in revenue related agencies to perfect the pilfering of our common patrimony for interests in the Buhari Presidency.
“The PDP challenges President Buhari to prove himself a man of integrity by allowing an open system-wide and independent inquest into all alleged corrupt practices in his presidency. We challenge President Buhari to be bold to allow an open independent inquest into the exact figures amounting to the trillions of naira oil revenue earned by the nation in the last three years and how he had spent same with Mrs. Adeosun as minister of finance.
“Mr. President should also allow an open inquest into his handling, with Mrs Adeosun, of all our depleted foreign financial instruments, including the Excess Crude Account (ECA), from which funds were taken without recourse to the National Assembly.
“President Buhari should also allow an inquest into his administration’s borrowing of over N10 trillion in 30 months, with Mrs. Adeosun as minister of finance and the purposes for which the money was used.
“We challenge President Buhari to allow an inquest into the leaked memo at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) showing N9 trillion corrupt oil contracts as well as the alleged stealing of N1.1 trillion worth of crude oil, all in a sector under his direct purview as Minister of Petroleum,” the statement read even as the party challenged the Presidency to open “an investigation into the N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) intervention fund and the N10 billion National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) alleged to have been stolen from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by APC officials and Presidency cabal.”
Mrs. Adeosun is currently enmeshed in NYSC certificate forgery scandal; a development that is likely to intensify calls for her replacement if proven to be true.
Source Vanguard online
Former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has donated relief materials to IDPs in Benue State, the PDP Presidential aspirant delivered the materials through his NGO Atiku Care Foundation.
Photo credit
Ukan Kurugh
Buba Galadima
The National Chairman of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), Alhaji Buba Galadima, in this interview, speaks on why the formation of his group was inevitable.
Your announcement concerning the formation of Reformed APC triggered a huge reaction in the polity. Why is this move coming now and what are your goals?
Let me establish my credentials. I was the National Secretary of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, one of the three parties, together with the nPDP and a faction of APGA, that formed the APC. I was one of the nine signatories to the memorandum of understanding that we signed ahead of the formation of the party. Earlier, I had been, since January 2002, one of the key operational allies of President Buhari .
Our goal was to enthrone constitutional democracy, party democracy under the rule of law. Having made such monumental sacrifice for 16,17 years, we cannot sit and watch either the party in which we participated in forming or the government which I had contributed more than any living human being to bring about in Nigeria go adrift. As a patriotic citizen, we owe it a duty to our country and to the men and women including children to ensure good government.
We were abundantly rewarded by God who gave us this government. Therefore, we would not allow anybody to mess us up or drag our good names and integrity in the mud. This is why we felt it is a call to duty, having seen our party which we laboured to built getting adrift. In fact, the situation became worse than that of those we campaigned to remove from office. This is the clarion call that I have answered. I put down my life to make sure that constitutional democracy is established. Once there is no rule of law, we are in a jungle.
The Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the governor of Sokoto State, the heavy weights in your group, among others, were not present when you made your announcement. Only Bawu Baraje was there. Is there a reason for that, and are you all on the same page?.
I am a heavy weight just like any politician in Nigeria. I was the youth leader of the NPN, the Financial Secretary of the NRC, member of Board of Trustees of the APC, and member of the National Caucus of the APC. I have impeccable credentials. Kawu Baraje was Secretary and National Chairman of the PDP. We are heavy weight enough. But during the press conference, I alluded to the fact that members of this rescue mission for democracy in our country comprise of former members of CPC, ACN ,ANPP, nPDP, and elements of APGA . And Bukola Saraki or Dogara, Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal.
You cited Article 20, Proviso 1 of the constitution of the APC that stipulates that when a nominee is set for an election, there must be a vote of yes or no. And you believed that the way it was done on national television, it was violated. Can you explain that?
If we were to be in court, you could have been invited as one of the witnesses to tender your record of the proceedings of that convention. You cannot build something on nothing. There were infractions right from the ward congresses leading to the convention. Therefore the processes were faulty, the processes were a non-event, therefore the executives produced through these processes cannot stand legal interpretation. That is why we call ourselves the mainstream APC. We are claiming that we are the authentic leaders of this party, not usurpers who just came, used their position to influence and got themselves announced as leaders. Therefore we are members of the APC.
Can you call people like Asiwaju Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as usurpers?
Why not, if they go against the law?
Was any of those you mentioned a signatory to the party as I am? We have a stake. We have staked our integrity and image, that is why the party was nationally accepted. Therefore we cannot sit back when we run counter to the law.
On national television, we saw Governor Badaru, who was Chairman of the Convention Planning Committee. He asked the crowd before the nomination was accepted whether everyone agreed and the response was yes. You thought he should have also asked if they didn’t agree?
Of course that was what we expected. That is what we are saying. That is what we are talking about. The Constitution is explicit. When you put the question, ‘do you agree?, and some people say yes, there should be a follow up question to say, who are those that do not agree? Then you evaluate which one is more by voice, that is if you are using the voice vote. It is after this that you can determine whether the man is legally approved by the convention or rejected because, during nomination, there was imposition, people were stopped from buying forms, accessing forms and attending venues that would generate delegates to the National Convention. And those people could have been more.
If Badaru had asked for yes/no votes, there would have been mixed reactions.
But he didn’t ask for a no vote. He only asked for a yes vote. How about those who didn’t respond, could he tell us the number?
Kawu Baraje said he was satisfied with the outcome of the convention even though he expressed his discontent with the proceedings, but you are contradicting the statement now. If a ranking member of your group says the process was satisfactory, how do we reconcile your statement?
Let me say that he has confirmed that there was only a yes question. That there was eruption of yes vote is in your own imagination. That is not correct. Why didn’t he then ask whether there were people who disagreed with this affirmation? Let me make some correction. There are two ways of authenticating and approving the candidature of a person in a convention or congress. One, you use the ballot box.
We agreed with him because some people pulled out on the podium there and then, we could not have printed those ballot papers, therefore we resorted to voice vote. It means the process and procedure was defective, legally. We are also questioning that right from the beginning, there were no congresses. Incidentally, it was Imo State where the executive did not participate in the congress that was now being affirmed and accepted by the national congress, that is the executive of Mr Rochas Okorocha. It never participated in the congress. Kawu Baraje, you alleged, I didn’t see him. His name is Abubakar Kawu Baraje. I am Abubakar Buba Galadima. Kawu Baraje is the chairman of the newPDP. I, Abubakar Buba Galadima, an the chairman of the Reformed APC. I could not stand for him.
There is speculation that this move of yours is more of desperation because you had hoped that the national convention would not hold, and your plans were scuttled the moment the tenure elongation was reversed.
Let me make a correction. We are not a faction or a bloc. We are not a break-away. We are the mainstream, original APC.
Without INEC regictration or convention
But there was no convention.
Do you have a constitution as a party?
We are members of APC. We are not desperate. Our desperation, if there is any, is to enthrone good governance and constitutional democracy. If there is any desperation, it is expressed on the side of those who want to contest election without facing challengers.. They are desperate. Infact, they can do anything to make sure they weed out all those areas of decent competitors that would challenge them in a free and fair primary; therefore, they are congregating their boys so that they are delivered on a platter of gold.
Any democracy without competition is bound to fail. In 1999, the PDP held a stiff convention to elect its presidential candidate; so also in 2003,2007 and 2011, but, in 2015, when they had a sole presidential candidate, they lost the presidential election. So also, when we brought Buhari, there was no contest against his candidature in 2003,2007 and 2011, but he lost all the elections. And if the APC conducts any primary without competition, they are bound to lose.
Is your APC going to end up with PDP?
We are R-APC for now. Politics is dynamic.
*Interview first aired on Channels Television
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said nothing is haunting him and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party as the people of the state go to poll next Saturday to elect a new governor.
He said he and his party simply demand the conduct of a credible, free and fair election, declaring that plan to use what he called the “Edo State option” in Ekiti next Saturday would fail.
This is just as the governor said he won the June 21, 2014 governorship election fair and square and that the credibility of the election was attested to by local and international observers such as the American Government, and the British Department for International Development among others.
The governor, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, was reacting to a statement credited to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, that he and the PDP were being haunted and jittery about the coming election.
“Oshiomole’s secret plan to use his fraudulent Edo template in Ekiti will never work and it will attract injurious consequences. This is because Ekiti people are resolutely determined to resist rigging right on the spot.
“Contrary to Adams’ diatribe, rumour peddling and rabble rousing unbecoming of an ex- governor and national chairman of the ruling party, Fayose and PDP are only interested in a credible election.
“Fayose and PDP are raising the alarm because of tell-tale signs that APC and Fayemi are plotting to rig the election.
“The statements by top APC leaders including its former chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun that they must capture Ekiti by all means are very instructive in this regard.”
Fayose added that the 2014 governorship election that the APC and its leaders tried to rubbish, was declared by the US and the international community as free and fair and as a reference point for future elections in Nigeria.
He advised Oshiomhole to face the crisis rocking his party and allow people of Ekiti to freely choose their leader.
“If Adams Oshiomhole still has problems with that election, he should address his misgivings to the US and the international community.
“Besides, APC challenged the election up to the Supreme Court but lost. Is Adams Oshiomhole disputing and despising the highest court of the land? It must be noted that he himself became governor by the same court judgment.”
A Nigerian student Omojola Ogundipe, of the Bristol University, took her own life in a Cardiff hotel room, just days after a visit home for Mother’s Day.
A staff at the Citrus Hotel in Cardiff found her body hanging in her hotel room after she missed her check-out deadline.
Late Omojola, described as “bright and bubbly”, was in the second year of her economics undergraduate degree at Bristol University, and was a leading member of the Gospel Choir Society.
A campaigner on environmental and human rights issues, she volunteered with several groups and was popular among her peers.
According to her dad, she visited home just three days before they heard the tragic news.
During the court hearing on July 5, her dad, Kurle Ogundipe, said in a statement: “I last saw Omojola on March 11 when she returned home for the weekend. She appeared her usual bubbly self.”
He said the family were not aware of any ill health and did not think she suffered from depression or mental health problems. However, Miss Ogundipe’s close friend, Hannah Agbeyegbe, in a written statement read out to the court, said: “She was an independent person. Quite private.
She didn’t really talk a lot about her personal life. It was around this time (when she moved to Bristol) that she disclosed to me that she was depressed and she had been having suicidal thoughts.”
Coroner Christopher Woolley accepted the cause of death given by consultant pathologist Dr David Thomas at the University Hospital of Wales as death by hanging.
Popular big brother Naija 3 housemate, Alex has just led a Campaign On Sexual Health. Alex Asogwa a.k.a Alex Unusual, commenced the campaign on sexual health and safety practices among young people in Benin, Edo State.
Alex was the special guest at the University of Benin for the launch of ‘My Paddi’, a web application that helps young people interact with experts and find answers to questions on sexual health and safety practices.
She encouraged young people to sign on the application in order to find the right answers and avoid making preventable mistakes.
The highlight of the launch was a question and answer session and a dance-off between Alex and the students, who were thrilled to have her at the school.
Alex impressed the audience with her special dance style, ‘Shaku shaku”. Meanwhile, a painting of Alex was made and presented to her on the spot by a student artist known as @od.benzy_art.
Alex, who is also a writer, recently urged women to pursue their dreams regardless of the hurdles they face.
Twitter Inc. suspended more than one million accounts a day in recent months to reduce the flow of misinformation on the platform, the Media reported.
Twitter and other social media platforms such as Facebook Inc. have been under scrutiny by United States lawmakers and international regulators for doing too little to prevent the spread of false content.
The companies have been taking steps such as deleting user accounts, introducing updates and actively monitoring content to help users avoid being victims to fake content.
Twitter suspended more than 70 million accounts in May and June, and the pace has continued in July, the media reported on Friday, citing data it obtained.
“It’s hard to believe that 70 million accounts were affected when Twitter has only 336 million monthly active users (MAU),” Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said.
Twitter’s MAU is expected to grow nearly three per cent to 337.06 in the second quarter, according to media.
“My guess is that a large number of these suspended accounts were dormant … it should have little impact on the company,” Pachter told the media.
If the 70 million were mostly active accounts, the affected accounts would have been “screaming bloody murder”, added the analyst.
According to a Washington Post source, however, the aggressive removal of unwanted accounts may result in a rare decline in the number of monthly users in the second quarter.
“Due to technology and process improvements during the past year, we are now removing 214 per cent more accounts for violating our spam policies on a year-on-year basis,” the company said in a blog post last month.
In May, it identified and challenged more than 9.9 million “potentially spammy” or automated accounts per week, compared with 6.4 million in December 2017.
Shares of Twitter fell marginally to 46.50 dollars after the bell on Friday.
(Reuters/NAN )
President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the acquittal of Senate President Bukola Saraki by the Supreme Court.
He stated that the country’s judicial system, no matter the challenges it faces, is truly working and no one should be allowed to undermine or break it.
President Buhari’s reaction was contained in a statement on Saturday by his spokesman, Garba Shehu.
He said: “I have seen many instances where individuals and groups seek the destruction of the judicial institution in the foolish thinking of saving their skin, instead of going through the painstaking process of establishing their innocence.
“In the case of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, I have seen him take the tortuous path of using the judicial process. He persevered, and in the end, the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, says he is not guilty as charged.
“This is what I have done in the three elections in which I was cheated out, before God made it possible for me to come here the fourth time I ran for the office.”
The President said the Senate President’s journey from the lowest to the highest court of the land provides an important example for Nigerians to emulate.”
In his reaction, Saraki reiterated his confidence in the judicial process and the ability of the Judiciary to do justice in all circumstances.
He also expressed gratitude to all Nigerians who have supported him since the case commenced three years ago.
Sunmbo Adeoye, and her husband, Pastor Adeoye, this morning, welcomed a baby boy in the U.S.
This will be Sumbo’s third child and Pastor David Adeoye’s first child.
More details later…
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may soon suspend the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
According to Daily Trust, the topic was discussed during the commission’s quarterly consultative meeting with the media on Thursday in Abuja.
The suspension is necessary in order to complete the procedures required for data processing, production and distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2019 elections, Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman said.
Yakubu gave 120 days as the timeline between the registration of voters and the production and issuance of the PVCs.
“This time span is required for the purpose of claims and objections and other backed activities including running the Business Rules and Automated Fingers Identification System (AFIS).
Another 30 days is required from the date of PVC production to the point of issuance to registered voters,” Yakubu said.
There are reports that the suspension will take effect from August, and then no registration till after the 2019 elections. Do well to register to get yours before it’s too late
Christiana Eze, a 31-year-old woman, has been arrested by the International Federation Of Women Lawyers, FIDA, for pouring hot water on her 13-year-old house maid, Beauty, for allegedly sleeping on her couch in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The incident happened on the 3rd of July, 2018. It was gathered that Beauty normally sleeps on the floor, but slept on the couch that fateful day because of cold, promoting the reaction from Christiana.
The following morning, she let the girl go to school in that condition and her teacher noticed and filed a report against the suspect. Beauty, from Edo State, accused Christiana of pouring hot water on her and using belt to flog her on the same spot she poured the hot water on, till her skin pilled peeled off.
It was gathered that for the last two years of the girl has stayed with Christiana, she knew nothing but torment and torture, a situation the neighbors attested to. The security man also revealed that he gives Beauty food sometimes, because she eats once a day.
Investigation further revealed that the girl doesn’t have a room in the house and her luggage is kept under the staircase, from where she dresses up.
Senate President Bukola Saraki today paid a visit to Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike at the state house.
Saraki is in Rivers on invitation of the State Government to commission the Alternative Dual Carriage Way from the Airport to Port Harcourt and East West Road.
Saraki has also laid the foundation stone of the Second Train of the Indorama Eleme Fertilizer Plant project in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The Senate President was on Friday cleared of all charges relating to his assets declaration.
In his reaction, Saraki reiterated his confidence in the judicial process and the ability of the Judiciary to do justice in all circumstances.
He also expressed gratitude to all Nigerians who have supported him since the case commenced three years ago.
Premium Times published a report alleging that Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, forged her NYSC certificate and that she allegedly never participated in the one-year mandatory scheme.
Read the report as published by Premiumtimes below
Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, did not participate in the mandatory one-year national youth service scheme. Instead, she forged an exemption certificate many years after graduation, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.The year-long service, organised by the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), is compulsory for all Nigerians who graduate from universities or equivalent institutions at less than 30 years of age.
In addition to being a requirement for government and private sector jobs in Nigeria, the enabling law prescribes punishment for anyone who absconds from the scheme or forges its certificates.
Eligible Nigerians who skipped the service are liable to be sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and/or N2,000 fine, according to Section 13 of the NYSC law.Section 13 (3) of the law also prescribes three-year jail term or option of N5,000 fine for anyone who contravenes provision of the law as Mrs Adeosun has done.
Subsection 4 of the same section also criminalises giving false information or illegally obtaining the agency’s certificate. It provides for up to three-year jail term for such offenders.Mrs Adeosun’s official credentials obtained by PREMIUM TIMES show that the minister parades a purported NYSC exemption certificate, which was issued in September 2009, granting her exemption from the mandatory service on account of age.
HOW IT HAPPENED Mrs Adeosun graduated from the Polytechnic of East London in 1989, at the age of 22. According to her curriculum vitae, Mrs Adeosun was born in March 1967.
The institution changed name to University of East London in 1992. Mrs Adeosun has her certificate issued in the new name.Having graduated at 22, it is obligatory for Mrs Adeosun to participate in the one-year national service, for her to qualify for any job in Nigeria.However, at the time of her graduation, the young Folakemi Oguntomoju, as she then was, did not return to Nigeria to serve her fatherland.Upon graduation in 1989, the Applied Economics graduate pursued fast-paced career in the British public and private sectors.She first landed a job at British Telecoms but left after a year to join Goodman Jones, an accounting and investment firm, as audit officer. She served there till 1993.In 1994, Mrs Adeosun joined London Underground Company as Internal Audit Manager, before switching to Prism Consulting, a finance firm, where she worked between 1996 until 2000.In 2000, Mrs Adeosun was hired by PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she worked for two years.When she eventually returned to Nigeria in 2002, Mrs Adeosun still did not deem it necessary to participate in the NYSC scheme. She simply accepted a job offer at a private firm, Chapel Hill Denham. However, ostensibly concerned that she might run into trouble for skipping the mandatory scheme, Mrs Adeosun, sometime in 2009, procured a fake exemption certificate.The NYSC does not issue exemption certificate to anyone who, like the minister, graduates before turning 30, top officials of the scheme familiar with the matter told PREMIUM TIMES.Mrs Adeosun’s ‘certificate’ is dated September 9, 2009, and was purportedly signed by Yusuf Bomoi, a former director-general of the corps.Officials said Mr. Bomoi stepped down from the NYSC in January 2009, and could not have signed any certicate for the corps eight months after. The retired brigadier general passed on in September 2017.
ILLEGAL JOBS Using that fake certificate, Mrs Adeosun went on to clinch high-profile jobs at Quo Vadis Partnerships(managing director), Ogun State Government (commissioner for finance), and Federal Government of Nigeria (minister of finance).By the provision of Section 12 of the NYSC Act, employers must demand NYSC certificates from prospective employees. The law also mandates employees to present only genuine certificates for that purpose.Section 12 of the Act reads:“For the purposes of employment anywhere in the Federation and before employment, it shall be the duty of every prospective employer to demand and obtained from any person who claims to have obtained his first degree at the end of the academic year 1973-74 or, as the case may be, at the end of any subsequent academic year the following:-a. a copy of the Certificate of National Service of such person issued pursuant to section 11 of this Decree b a copy of any exemption certificate issued to such person pursuant to section 17 of this Decreec. such other particulars relevant there to as may be prescribed by or under this Decree.”A lawyer, Sagir Gezawa, described jobs Mrs Adeosun has had in Nigeria as illegal.“The combined effect of sections 12 and 13 of the NYSC Act is that it is illegal to hire a person who graduated but failed to make himself or herself available to serve, or falsify any document to the effect that he or she has served or exempted from serving.”However, without demanding or verifying the veracity of the certificate presented by Mrs Adeosun, two Nigerian companies, the Ogun State Government and the Federal Government of Nigeria employed her at various times.On becoming governor in 2011, Ibikunle Amosun nominated her into his cabinet. She proceeded to serve as commissioner of finance for four years.
In November 2015, Mrs Adeosun was sworn in as minister by President Muhammadu Buhari, and assigned the all-important finance ministry, after a supposed security and Senate screening.The State Security Service, charged with vetting appointees to top government positions, failed to detect that her NYSC certificate was fake.The Senate, which received the fake certificate as part of the documents Mrs Adeosun submitted for her confirmation hearing, detected the discrepancy, PREMIUM TIMES understands.But it nonetheless proceeded to clear her for the top office. Those familiar with the matter said the leadership of the National Assembly used that information to blackmail and extort Mrs Adeosun for years.
FAKE CERTIFICATE?
We investigated Mrs Adeosun’s so-called NYSC certificate for months, determining eventually that it is fake.“This one is an Oluwole certificate,” a top official of the corps said after we showed him a copy of the document. “We did not issue it and we could not have issued it.” Oluwole is a location in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, where fraudsters possess an amazing dexterity in the act of forging all kinds of documents.Several current and former officials of the scheme told this paper that the NYSC would never issue an exemption certificate to anyone who graduated before age 30 and did not fall into the categories of persons exempted by the corps’ enabling Act.By that law, there are four categories of Nigerians eligible for exemption certificates. The first are those who graduated after turning 30.
The second are holders of national honours. The third are persons who served in the armed forces or the police for up to nine months. The last category are staff of intelligence agencies, or the armed forces.Therefore, having graduated at 22, and with no record of national honours or service in the intelligence or armed forces, Mrs Adeosun is not qualified for exemption, officials said.Yet, the so-called exemption certificate she holds gave age as the reason for her exemption.“This is not the size of our exemption certificate,” another top official of the corps remarked when shown a copy of the minister’s ‘certificate’. “The calligraphy is also different”.On another day, another staff questioned the genuineness of the ‘certificate’ based on the font of the serial number.“Look at this, look at this other one, the numbering is different,” the staff said while comparing Mrs Adeosun’s certificate with a genuine one on file.Mrs Adeosun’s name also failed to pop up during multiple checks of the exemption certificates registers kept by the corps, officials said.One official, who perused the register recently, noted that the sequence of serial numbers for certificates issued in 2009 did not correspond to that in Mrs Adeosun’s purported certificate.The signature on the ‘certificate’ is also suspect. As indicated earlier in this report, it was purportedly signed by an official who left the corps eight months before the document was made. One official described that claim as “barefaced lie and total impossibility”.
A TOOL FOR BLACKMAILPREMIUM TIMES reported Friday how the certificate scandal was turned into a tool for blackmail by a National Assembly cartel that used it to coerce the finance minister to keep releasing funds to the lawmaking arm.Some federal lawmakers revealed to this paper that the discrepancy was detected by the Senate during the minister’s confirmation hearing. But rather than probe the issue, they turned it into a tool against Mrs Adeosun.The report linked the certificate scandal to the minister’s excessive, even illegal, funding of the lawmakers, including recently funnelling a N10billion largesse to that arm of government.
MINISTER, NYSC WONT REACTAlthough several of its officials informally cooperated with our reporters in the course of this investigation, the NYSC leadership declined to respond to our official correspondences.We first sent a letter to Director-General Sule Kazaure (brigadier-general) requesting him to help determine the authenticity or otherwise of the minister’s ‘certificate’.After we received no response for several weeks, we sent in a Freedom of Information request on the matter. Weeks after, we are still waiting for response.Insiders say authorities of the corps have been under severe pressure in the past weeks not to respond to our inquiries.
One of our reporters also requested a reaction from Oluyinka Akintunde, the spokesperson to Mrs Adeosun, who was briefed on the outcome of our investigations. He is yet to send a response to our inquiry.
Kenya is set to impose tax on street preaching, taking phone photos commonly known as selfies and hawking of food on the streets.
The new taxes are being proposed by different counties in Kenya. In Siaya County, street preachers will pay KSh20,000 ($198) upfront per day to use lawns maintained by the county government if the Finance Bill 2018 is approved, reports Ugbliz
In Makueni county, owners of casinos will be required to pay KSh30,000 ($297) a month as the county government looks to improve revenues to finance the KSh8.9 billion budget. A KSh100 fee is proposed for those taking photographs using their mobile phones.
For a region popular for its local musicians fond of performing with live bands, an entertainment permit of KSh1,000 per night will be required. According to Finance Executive Mary Kimanzi, local operators of film/video shows will pay KSh1,500 per day.
In Nairobi, supermarkets and shopping malls will surrender a share of proceeds from private car parks and sale of packaging bags to shoppers as the county looks for new revenue streams to finance Sh32 billion budget.
Private car parks which have become a common business for open spaces within the city are also targeted. “It is unfair that shoppers pay for bags even after spending heftily. I will also be proposing a fee for private parking firms that charge their customers hourly parking rates,” said acting Finance Executive Charles Kerich.
Faced with complaints about heaps of garbage, the county wants residents to pay for disposal of waste. Property owners will also be slapped with higher land rates with a valuation of properties expected soon.
Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Saturday expressed disappointment that governors of the North West did not attend a security meeting of the sub-region held in Kaduna.
Masari who is the Chairman of the security committee inaugurated by the Northern Governors Forum said the governors must separate politics from the issue of security that affects the generality of the people.
The meeting attended by the Deputy Governors of Sokoto, Jigawa and Kaduna States also had in attendance Secretaries to the State Governments of the two states, and that of Katsina, as well as various consultants on security.
“The issue of security is more important than politics as it affects life,” Masari said at the opening of the meeting which later went into a closed-door session.
He said it was important to evolve ways of sustaining attendance not only by the governors, but also their Deputies and SSGs.
“It will not however hinder the discussions or delay the meeting; we must devise means of continuing with the meeting even when the Governors are not in attendance,” he said.
Masari added: “Before we leave, we should have a programme and then pass it on to our governors, we should not allow this laudable initiative rely only on the availability of governors.”
The News Agency of Nigeriareports that the meeting will also discuss regional integration and economic cooperation among the seven states in the North West.
(NAN)
Recently a fan of reality star/Musician Teddy A simply identified as FreakHo took a photo with the star on a plane and wrote "I F****D TEDDY A ON THE PLANE. I AM SO DAMN HAPPY."
This left many to wonder if they truly did had sex on the plane, when newsmen contacted the star to her his side of thee story, his manager denied the story outright, he said: "I don’t know anything about it."
34 year old Mark Elliot Zuckerberg one of the founders of Popular social media , Facebook is now the Number 3 richest man in the world according to new reports by Bloomberg Billionaire Index, he is currently behind Jeff Bezos who is worth about $141 billion and currently number one, Bill Gates number two worth about $92.7 Billion.
He has pledged to give away 99% of his shares.
The Reformed All Progressives Congress, R-APC has again hit at the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, saying President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo lacked coordination.
The R-APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kassim Afegbua, cited the issue of restructuring as an example.
It said that Buhari and Osinbajo held different opinions on the subject.
Afegbua said the APC was not the party its founding fathers envisaged when they came together in 2014.
He said, “As we speak, the APC has jettisoned its own manifesto. Where is the restructuring we promised Nigerians? They hurriedly came up with a committee headed by Governor (Nasir ) el-Rufai; where has that landed us?
“The Vice-President is a supporter of restructuring. The President of the country is not a supporter of restructuring in the same government.
“There is no synergy. There is no coordination on any issue. You have about three or four opinions from the same government; that is not the way to lead.
“When the Fulani herdsmen issue came up in Benue State, the Inspector General of Police came up with a different position; the Minister of Defence gave a different position; and the Presidency is giving a different position.”
The National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, had in an interview with journalists, claimed that the R-APC members were mercenaries hired to destabilise the APC.
Reacting to this, Afegbua said they were genuine members of the party interested in retrieving the party from usurpers.
Afegbua, added, “Adams Oshiomhole needs to take a look at our past. We do not possess the characteristics of hirelings or mercenaries.
“We are bona fide members of the APC . When it is convenient for people, they dress you in very elegant robes but when they are losing the battle, they call you names, but we will not call them names, we will continue to insist that we are going to rescue the APC and reposition it for optimum performance.
“We cannot be preaching to be progressives when we are law-breakers. We cannot be preaching that we are progressives when we are a party that has performed abysmally low in all sectors of the economy.”
Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, is “hunted by ghosts of forces he used to capture power”.
He said this in response to the allegation of Fayose that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is plotting to rig next week’s governorship election for the APC.
Oshiomhole said Fayose and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been spreading falsehood out of fear of losing the election.
“No better evidence to the fact that PDP is panicking. You must have heard report that in clear violation of the electoral act, the outgoing Governor of Ekiti state, Ayo Fayose, has instructed the civil servants, principals and headmasters of schools to retrieve PVCs from civil servants,” he said at a press conference in Abuja.
“While we are asking people to collect PVC, they are busy retrieving PVCs. We have evidence that they had to issue queries to workers, including teachers who refused to surrender their PVC.
“We all know that Fayose was rigged into the office. The military officers involved have since confessed to the role they played. I think every armed robber thinks that the same instruments he has used would be used against him. But this is a party of change, we are not going to copy the darkest side of PDP.
“To be honest, I think Fayose is hunted by the ghosts of the forces he used to capture power.”
The founder of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari has called on the people in the Middle Belt region to stop crying like babies.
He said they should rather protect themselves against attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
He called on the people of Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Taraba and Nasarawa to rise up in their own defence and stop the consumption of cow meat.
Speaking in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, Dokubo-Asari said: “They should stop crying like babies and stop behaving like cowards because the people who are killing them are not gods. The first law of survival is self defence.
“Till today, people in Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Taraba and Kogi states are still eating their cows. Those of us that are not eating their cows are extremists. It is shameful that the people of Middle Belt are crying like babies and other people are killing them. Don’t they have hands to defend their lives?
“They have every right to defend themselves. They should protect themselves and stop complaining.”
Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says he believes the “rebellion” within the ruling party will be crushed.
On Wednesday, aggrieved members in the APC floated a new faction — the Reformed APC (R-APC) — accusing the ruling party of betraying their hopes.
But speaking when he received former state chairpersons of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Abuja, Oshiomhole said the party listened to R-APC members before they left the party.
“(But) it is as if a very hungry bird is dancing at the centre of the road and a disgruntled drummer not far away in the bush is drumming for him,” he said.
“I am very confident that we can afford to ignore Buba Galadima … for me, there is no cause for alarm, nobody should panic over one Baba Galadima, whose group, I believe, cannot define us in the next election in 2019.
“Nigerians are wiser, they know that corruption is fighting back, they also know that President Buhari’s resolve to fight corruption must elicit a counter force and that force must find attraction in some people.
“But like we have rightly said, we should not be distracted and we encourage the president not to be distracted, he must remain focused and sustain the fight and I believe the rebellion will be crushed using the superior power of argument, persuading our people not to forget in a hurry where we are coming from.”
He added that the APC is not ashamed to talk to people who have “genuine” grievances but “when we see people who don’t mean well, there are a lot of idle people who don’t have any other thing to do and once they don’t have access to national honey pot, then they begin to complain.”
The former CPC state chairpersons expresses their loyalty to the APC under Oshiomhole and distanced themselves from the R-APC.
Oshiomhole had earlier said he would not lose sleep over the R-APC.
Bolaji Abdullahi, APC spokesman, has denied the existence of any faction within the party.
Ali Ahmad, speaker of Kwara state house of assembly, says Senate President Bukola Saraki is the only politician “vilified” by his own party.
Ahmad said this on Friday while reacting supreme court verdict clearing Saraki of the false assets declaration charges against at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT)
The apex court had upheld the earlier ruling of the CCT that the senate president has no case to answer.
Ahmad described the supreme court ruling as a proof that Saraki is “completely innocent of all the charges and slanders that the Buhari administration has been slamming on him since 2015.”
Saraki is of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“We thank the judiciary for withstanding all pressures and standing by the truth and the weak,” Ahmad said in a statement by Adebayo Abdullahi, his spokesman.
“Saraki is probably the first politician in the world that is vilified the most by his own political party. We were led to believe that Saraki was going through a fair, run-of-the-mill trial superintended by people with integrity. It was a hoax.
“Valuable man hour and stupendous amount of public funds were wasted on what the supreme court referred to as a forensic somersault.”
He added that the fact that the CCT and supreme court dismissed the charges against Saraki based on his no-case submission “shows that the trial was done in bad faith.”
“Being an administration that constantly employs the criminal justice system to fight political battles, we will not be naïve to believe that the success at the supreme court will end all persecution, blackmail and intimidation of the senate president by people who desperately want only one thing: to exterminate his political career for no just cause,” the statement added.
“But Allah that has stood by his side will continue to do so all the way, believing in the Holy Quran that ‘every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah extinguishes it.”
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has said that he is glad that those that deserted, fought, insulted, persecuted and derided him and others for supporting former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 are now singing that they are coming back “home” to PDP.
He said further that ‘their error of judgement,lack of foresight and love affair with Buhari cost the nation dearly.
Recalled that Senator Dino Melaye yesterday released a new video where he remixed a popular song “Oh! My Home” mocking his party the All Progressives Congress (APC). In the video, Melaye referred to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as his home, saying that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had suffered him.
Read more at:
I am glad that those that deserted us, fought us,insulted us,persecuted us and derided us for supporting @GEJonathan in 2015 are now singing that they are coming back "home" to PDP. Their error of judgement,lack of foresight and love affair with Buhari cost the nation dearly.
— Femi Fani-Kayode (@realFFK) July 7, 2018
Bye bye to jati jati pic.twitter.com/4oBwuTbxGQ
— Senator Dino Melaye (@dino_melaye) July 6, 2018
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has assured labour unions in the country that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is committed to the implementation of an improved National Minimum Wage for Nigerian workers.
Oshiomhole said this while receiving a delegation of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) led by its President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama.
Oshiomhole said “The trade union movement and the working class represent part of the constituency that President Buhari believes in. That is why on occasions like this, I can safely assure the TUC and NLC that if you hear any voice within the APC family talking in a way as to suggest that President Buhari’s government will superintend over abolition of the National Minimum Wage, that will be the individual’s wishful thinking. President Muhammadu Buhari will not dismantle any of the gains that the working class has achieved over the years.
“One of which is the idea of a National Minimum Wage to provide a social club below which no Nigerian workers should be engaged. I think there is no better evidence of this than the fact that even at a time many people were calling for the abolition of the National Minimum Wage, President Buhari decided to set up a panel to review upward the existing National Minimum Wage. As they say, action speaks louder than words.”
The APC National Chairman expressed his resolve to use his position to influence government policies in a way that will benefit the Nigerian worker. Oshiomhole also said President Buhari remained committed to worker’s welfare, the fight against corruption and the unity of the country, despite resistance from a section of the political elite.
Oshiomhole: “My understanding of the Nigerian condition is deepened by the fact that I had the opportunity as a factory worker and an industrial union leader and later as President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). I am very proud when people acknowledge that what qualifies me for the present position is the rich trade union background where I was able to manage a pan-Nigeria institution and mobilise the people for a good course without recourse to ethnic, religious and primordial sentiments.
“That is the challenge of the political class today because many are still afflicted by these primordial sentiments. I am very proud of those values that I had to imbibe as a union leader. I know the struggles that we waged together.
“I also want to thank you for the leadership you are providing for the labour movement at this time. These are very challenging times. I also know that sometimes, government positions are misunderstood or portrayed differently by some government functionaries. As an insider and now a key player in the governing Party, I am very clear that my responsibility is to influence policies in a way that will benefit the Nigerian worker. There is no sitting on the fence because government is the management of sets of biases. Whatever you call it, government and governance is value driven.
“I am happy to be the APC Chairman, particularly under President Muhammadu Buhari. Even though he is not a former union person, those who are familiar with his policies, know that his source of strength is the ordinary people, the masses, the poorest of the poor. If he has strong opponents, it is among the establishment, a section of the political elite who do not agree with his rigid commitment to anti-corruption.
“President Buhari and the APC government believe in the unity of the Nigerian worker. At a time when a good section of the political class has become ethnic champions, religious bigots and divisive tendencies, President Buhari believes we need pan-Nigerian institutions; people who organise, mobilise and affiliate above all these primordial sentiments, which the labour movement represents.
“You can count on this government that nothing will be done to undermine the unity of Nigerian workers. I will be your in-house agent to ensure that governance and government instrument are used for the good of the greatest number of our people in the shortest possible time.”
Speaking earlier, the TUC President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama assured the APC National Chairman of TUC’s support and cooperation. Kaigama described Oshiomhole as a bridge-builder.
Kaigama: “We are from your primary constituency and as a movement, when one of us is opportune to be elevated to a position of what we call national service, we need to really congratulate you, identify with you, solidarise with you and to show you that the Labour movement is one, indivisible. The movement is solidly behind you. We do know that you have been elected to your current position based on the fact that you have an organisational background and that organisational background is the trade union background where we organise and mobilise for the betterment of the nation.
“And if one of us can be given the opportunity of being the national chairman of a governing party, it shows that we have a bridge-builder in government. We now have a voice unlike before. We now have a bridge were if there are one or two constraints, we have an easy ride through it so that we serve our nation better.
“May the God that brought you this far continue to protect you. I am sure that as an ambassador of the labour movement, you will continue to perform your role and duty as we know it in the Trade Union Congress and by extension, the Nigeria Labour Congress, we say a big congratulation. We strongly believe that the sky is the beginning of your success story.”
The President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba also accompanied the TUC delegation on a solidarity visit to the APC National Chairman at the Party’s National Secretariat on Friday.
Other members of the TUC delegation included: Olusoji Salako (1st Deputy President), F.O. Johnson (3rd Deputy President), Oyinkan Olasanoye (Women Commisioner), Quadri Olaleye (National Treasurer), Musa Lawal (Secretary-General) and Salihu Anka (Asst. Secretary-General).
Harry Maguire and Dele Alli scored as England comfortably defeated Sweden 2-0 in Samara on Saturday to reach the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990.
Leicester defender Maguire headed in the opening goal from a corner on 30 minutes, with Alli adding a second just before the hour.
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford then produced a series of crucial saves in the final half-hour to seal England’s long-awaited spot in the last four.
It was just a second England victory over Sweden in nine competitive meetings, and sets up a clash with either hosts Russia or Croatia on July 11 in Moscow for a place in the final.
Southgate stuck with the same team that overcame Colombia on penalties in the last 16, while Sebastian Larsson returned for Sweden after missing the 1-0 win over Switzerland through suspension.
Viktor Claesson drilled over for Sweden early on with an ambitious attempt from distance, while Harry Kane, the tournament’s leading scorer with six goals, dragged wide after a penetrating run by Raheem Sterling.
Sweden manager Janne Andersson had warned his side England were a match for them at set-pieces, and so it proved when Maguire connected with Ashley Young’s corner after a low-key first half hour.
Maguire outjumped the much smaller Emil Forsberg to nod low into the corner, as England scored for the eighth time in Russia from a dead-ball situation.
The lively Sterling should have doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time when he brilliantly controlled Jordan Henderson’s lofted pass, but he was unable to find a way past Robin Olsen and his follow-up was blocked by Andreas Granqvist.
Pickford had relatively little to do in a quiet first half, but the England goalkeeper produced a vital stop to claw away a Marcus Berg header minutes after the restart.
England promptly cranked up the pressure and pulled further ahead on 59 minutes when a completely unmarked Alli sent a thumping header past Olsen after a first-time cross by Jesse Lingard.
Maguire then lashed over after a scene of panic in the Sweden area as England chased a third goal, although they were twice indebted to Pickford for preserving their two-goal lead.
The Everton shot-stopper thrust out a hand to superbly keep out Claesson’s low strike from 10 yards following a neat lay-off by Berg.
Pickford then showed terrific reflexes to tip over an effort from Berg, who shot on the turn after being picked out in the area by substitute John Guidetti.
Southgate withdrew Henderson for Eric Dier in the closing stages and will have a full squad to choose from in the semi-final, injuries permitting.
AFP
Femi Adesina, the Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, in a recent chat with Thisday, said his daughter almost wept when she read some of the crude comments Nigerians post on social media about him. According to him;
”You know the social media just revels in abusing people, and saying all sorts of rude and crude things. I remember my daughter who was in the university then and she called me and was almost crying and said ‘all these things I read on social media about you, this is not you. I then I told her ‘since you know that it is not me, then let your heart be at peace knowing that it is not your daddy, it is a creation of the social media” he said
Adesina said contrary to popular opinion, President Buhari is not rigid. He said Mr Presidnet is a good listener.
”Anytime I meet him and I have anything to discuss with him, he always listens. He is a good listener but people don’t know, they think he is a rigid unapproachable person. You need to see him laughing and cracking jokes; you won’t believe that that is the same person a lot of people are saying is rigid. In my relationship with him, he has my utmost respect and admiration and when you talk to him, he listens. I try as much as possible to stay within my purview which is Media and Publicity, but if there are other pressing things that are outside the confines of my job, I raise them to him. He is a man who likes fairness and justice. I tell him to look into it and he listens”.
He said President Buhari has vowed to give Nigerians a free and fair election
”I remember in a private conversation with him one day, he said ‘if it is the only thing I would do for Nigeria, I would give a free and fair election in this country.’ Look at all the elections that held in states under him – Bayelsa and Anambra, APC lost. APC won Kogi and Ondo. So when you win, win fair and square and when you lose, lose gallantly. He doesn’t interfere with INEC or the other agencies like EFCC, ICPC in anyway. I’m sure if you ask the INEC chairman, he would tell you the President has never picked a call to tell him do this.
A faction of the All Progressives Congress, known as Reformed-All Progressives Congress in Kaduna State has inaugurated its state executive committee members. It said the APC had failed the electorate.
A retired army officer, Col. Dauda Gora, is the State Chairman of the R-APC in Kaduna State.
Other members of the state executive committee of the party are a former Commissioner for Women Affairs under Governor Nasir el-Rufai, Mrs. Rabiu Abdulsalam as deputy chairman, Mr. Jafaru Abbas, as secretary, Shehu Abubakar as assistant secretary, Alhaji Uba Maiwashi as zonal vice-chairman (I), Abdullahi Jafaru as zonal vice chairman (II), Hosea Buba as zonal vice chairman (III) and Auta Maisamari as state legal adviser.
Others are Ayuba Imam as Treasurer, Pastor Ephraim Haruna as state Financial Secretary and Mock Kure as the state publicity secretary.
Gora, prior to inaugurating other members of the executive members, pledged their loyalty to the Buba Galadima-led national executive committee of the party.
He said the APC in the state had nothing close to semblance of democracy under the leadership of the Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.
Gora added, “You are all aware of the reasons informing the emergence of the Reformed-All Progressives Congress from the All Progressives Congress. You are equally aware of how different political platforms collapsed to form the APC prior to the 2015 general elections.
“Sadly, the yearnings and aspirations of our people have not come to fruition both at the national level and in our dear Kaduna State in particular.
“We were made to believe that we were dealing with democrats, and so we entrusted them with our votes, little did we know that we were casting our votes to unleash the worse form of dictatorship on the hapless people of Kaduna State. Today, those ideals of democracy which include the right to vote and be voted for in free, fair and credible elections have all been stultified.”
Supreme Court on Friday upheld the appeal of Bukola Saraki and discharged him of all charges against him in the case of false declaration of assets. It upheld the appeal in a lead judgment delivered by Justice Centus Nweze in Abuja and Senator Dino Melaye shared the photo above in celebration with the caption, '
congratulations my man, brother,oga and friend. Owo bagadagodo won'.
The OPSH tasked with providing security in Plateau State has provided medical assistance to those internally displaced by the attacks which took place in Plateau State during the medical outreach organized by NMA and other NGOs in some of the camps in the state...
Speaking with our correspondent, the OPSH Commander Gen Anthony Atolagbe stated that they provided drugs to the vulnerables in IDPs as there was a case of outbreak of diarrhea especially to kids ranging from one month and above and women.
The outreach was helpful as slot were treated freely.
General Anthony Atolagbe assured the general public of their commitment to securing lives and properties of citizens in the State.
The medical outreach took place in 2 camps
1. Geosciences Zawan
2, Riyom LGA.
Am a journalist,I love creating news,am also a Human Rights worker,very passionate about people who suffer injustice in the society.
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