Thursday, 26 October 2017

Mel B claims husband Stephen Belafonte DRUGGED her throughout their 10 year marriage as bitter divorce battle rages on

The Spice Girl has also accused her estranged husband of tormenting her with mental and physical abuse.

Sam Blewett

Lucy Needham

by Taboola

Friday, 20 October 2017

Lupita Nyong'o claims Harvey Weinstein 'tried to remove his pants after offering massage while his kids were in house'

The actress has described a number of encounters with the producer when she was just starting out in Hollywood

Zoe Shenton

Lupita Nyong'o is the latest actress to come forward to describe her encounters with disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Writing in an op-ed in the New York Times, she alleged that not only did Weinstein attempt to ply her with alcohol when she met with him at a restaurant, but after they moved the meeting to his home to watch a film screening, tried to give her a massage.
At a later meeting, the 34-year-old Oscar-winning actress claimed Weinstein, 65, propositioned her in a hotel restaurant.
According to Nyong'o, she met with Weinstein for the second time - after having initially met him in 2011 at an awards ceremony in Berlin while she was still in school at Yale - when he asked her to attend a screening at his home after sharing lunch at a restaurant.
When she arrived at the restaurant in Westport, Connecticut, close to where Weinstein lived, Nyong'o told of how he ordered her a vodka soda and insisted that she drink it, despite her protests.

The actress has opened up about her experience with Weinstein (Image: AFP)

After finishing their meal, she and Weinstein relocated to his home, where Nyong'o was introduced to his domestic staff and children.
Nyong'o wrote that she, Weinstein, and his children all began watching the film together. About 15 minutes into the film, however, Weinstein asked her to accompany him outside the room.
"I protested that I wanted to finish the film first, but he insisted I go with him, laying down the law as though I too was one of his children. I did not want another back-and-forth in front of his kids, so I complied and left the room with him. I explained that I really wanted to see the film. He said we'd go back shortly.

"Harvey led me into a bedroom - his bedroom - and announced that he wanted to give me a massage. I thought he was joking at first. He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe. I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times."
Nyong'o alleged that after he removed his shirt and she began giving him a massage, he asked if he could remove his pants.
She said she would prefer that he didn't and that it would make her extremely uncomfortable if he did so.
Despite her protests, Weinstein allegedly got up to remove them, at which point the actress moved toward the door.

Emma Watson, Margot Robbie and Lupita at last year's Met Gala (Image: REX)

"I opened the door and stood by the frame. He put his shirt on and again mentioned how stubborn I was," she wrote.
"I agreed with an easy laugh, trying to get myself out of the situation safely. I was after all on his premises, and the members of his household, the potential witnesses, were all (strategically, it seems to me now) in a soundproof room."
Nyong'o wrote that she "didn't quite know" how to process the massage incident, and rationalised it.

His wife, Georgina Chapman, announced she was leaving him after the allegations surfaced (Image: REX/Shutterstock)

"I reasoned that it had been inappropriate and uncalled-for, but not overtly sexual. I was entering into a business where the intimate is often professional and so the lines are blurred."
Nyong'o continued that after the encounter she met up with Weinstein once more, this time accompanied by friends as well as some of Weinstein's colleagues, for dinner and a staged reading of his new Broadway show Finding Neverland.

Harvey Weinstein has seen his empire collapse following allegations made against him (Image: REX/Shutterstock)

During this meeting, Nyong'o experienced no untoward attention, and the fact that Weinstein was accompanied by other female actresses made her even more inclined to brush off the previous incident as an awkward encounter.
A couple of months later, Nyong'o wrote, Weinstein invited her to have drinks with him after a screening of W.E.
According to the actress, a male assistant arranged her transportation from the reading to the Tribeca Grill, where she would meet Weinstein for drinks.

Weinstein, 65, meteorically fell from grace after the claims were made public and has had ties severed with his own firm, The Weinstein Company (Image: REUTERS)

Although she assumed it would be a group of people, as it had been for the reading, when she arrived at the restaurant, she was informed by a female assistant that it would just be her and Weinstein.
The assistant waited with her until Weinstein appeared, at which time she left.
She alleges that before their starters arrived he suggested that they go upstairs to where he had a private room to have their rest of their dinner.
"I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant. He told me not to be so naive. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them."

Lupita Nyong'o at the Queen of Katwe film premiere in Los Angeles (Image: Rex Features)

The actress declined his offer and they left the restaurant and she went to get into a taxi.
"Before I got in, I needed to make sure that I had not awakened a beast that would go on to ruin my name and destroy my chances in the business even before I got there," she wrote. "'I just want to know that we are good,' I said. 'I don't know about your career, but you'll be fine,' he said. It felt like both a threat and a reassurance at the same time; of what, I couldn't be sure."

The next time she saw him was in 2013 at an after-party for the premiere of 12 Years a Slave. Weinstein found her and commended her for her rapid progress in the industry.
She alleges that he apologised for the way he had treated her in the past and he promised to respect her moving forward.
The actress thanked him, but says she made a promise to herself never to work with Weinstein.
Nyong'o finished by explaining that she had no idea at the time that this behaviour from Weinstein was something other women were dealing with as well.

Nyong'o finished by explaining that she had no idea at the time that this behavior from Weinstein was something other women were dealing with as well (Image: Rex Features)

The fact that he was one of the first people she'd met in the industry also prevented her from coming forward sooner, and the fact that no one else seemed to be challenging him.
In a statement to E! News, a spokesperson responded to the star's op-ed piece.
"Mr. Weinstein has a different recollection of the events, but believes Lupita is a brilliant actress and a major force for the industry.

He has "unequivocally denied" allegations of non-consensual sex through his spokeswoman (Image: AFP)

"Last year, she sent a personal invitation to Mr. Weinstein to see her in her Broadway show Eclipsed."
A number of actresses have come forward in recent weeks to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Lena Headey, Angelina Jolie, Cara Delevingne, Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd.
Weinstein meteorically fell from grace after the claims were made public and has had ties severed with his own firm, The Weinstein Company.
He has "unequivocally denied" allegations of non-consensual sex through his spokeswoman.
Police in London, Los Angeles and New York are investigating the 65-year-old.

Mirror

Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Senate under pressure to drop probe of $25b NNPC contracts

• Shifts takeoff of investigation
• Urges Buhari to split Fashola’s ministry
• Lawmakers summon Fayemi over lead poisoning in Zamfara State The Senate has postponed the commencement of its planned investigation into the alleged award of $25 billion worth of contracts in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).Following the allegation of abuse of due process made by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, against the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, the Senate resolved to investigate the matter.
The upper chamber also resolved to investigate Baru over alleged insubordination and abuse of office as contained in the leaked Kachikwu’s letter to President Muhammadu Buhari.Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who announced the postponement during yesterday’s plenary session, said that the investigation would commence next Tuesday.
The investigative panel headed by former Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, ought to have started work yesterday.Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, did not give any reason for the sudden postponement. It was, however, learnt that pressure was being mounted on the Senate leadership from many powerful quarters to abandon the probe.
When Senate President Bukola Saraki constituted the ad-hoc panel last week, following a resolution of the Senate and public outcry over the award of the alleged contracts, the committee was given four weeks to submit its report.A source said that an earlier meeting scheduled last week by the panel chairman, Wammako, was also called off at the last minute for undisclosed reasons.
Wamakko is yet to address the press about the modalities his committee would adopt in conducting the investigation.After the Senate announced its decision to probe the alleged contracts, the presidency came out to deny their existence.Already, an Abuja-based lawyer, Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to restrain the Senate from inviting Baru over the allegation.
In his suit, Jideobi asked the court to set aside the October 4, 2017 proceedings of the Senate on the ground that its planned investigation was based on the contents of an unconfirmed document of doubtful origin.
According to the originating summons, the counsel to the plaintiff, Ramsey Abuchi Omego, wants the court to determine “whether in view of combined reading of Sections 5 and 88 (2) (a) and (b) of the amended 1999 Constitution, the investigative power of the Senate is extendable to the contents of documents with unconfirmed, doubtful origin forming the basis of a probe into the activities of Baru in his management of the NNPC.”
The plaintiff is also seeking an order declaring the October 4, 2017 resolutions of the Senate as illegal and therefore liable to be set aside.The plaintiff has also asked the court to issue an order restraining the Senate from acting on the votes and proceedings of October 4, 2017.The defendants in the suit include the NNPC, Baru, Saraki and the Senate.
Also yesterday, the Senate urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a separate minister to take care of power to facilitate higher performance in the sector.
Former Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fasola, has been the minister in charge of Works, Power and Housing since the inception of the Buhari administration in 2015.
Adopting a motion sponsored by Senator Mustapha Bukar (APC-Katsina) on the “Need to Establish and Delegate Special Purpose Vehicles to Execute and Operate Major Power Sector Development Projects”, the Senate sought the immediate incorporation of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for the implementation of alternative energy projects. It equally sought the use of gas as the source of energy for the Kaduna project in accordance with the original concept.
Defending his motion earlier, Bukar noted that the Federal Government in 2004 conceived the idea of an integrated power project which metamorphosed into the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) incorporated in 2005.“This was in government’s quest to bridge the power gap for sustained economic growth in Nigeria by adding significant new generation capacity to Nigeria’s electricity supply system,” he said.
He noted that the National Assembly enacted the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act, 2005 on March 11, 2005, which kick-started the process of privatisation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).This, he said, was in a bid to develop a Competitive Electricity Market with the establishment of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). The function of NERC is to provide for the licensing and regulation of the entire value chain of the Nigerian Electricity Market (NEM).
“The privatisation became effective on Nov.1, 2013 when the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was sold and transferred to successful bidders of the six generation companies (GENCOs) and the 11 distribution companies (DISCOs).“The ownership and control of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was retained by the Federal Government for strategic reasons,” he said.
The lawmaker further said that consequent upon the commencement of the privatisation and establishment of the NEM, the role of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing was restricted.The Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Eyinnaya Abaribe, said the committee was already making moves towards securing greater efficiency for the sector.
“We are working toward ensuring that these concerns that have been raised by this motion are looked into.“The ministry of power today is combined with works and housing and the thrust of the ministry is to give quality direction. But what we find is that the ministry continues to appropriate these jobs that are specifically meant to be done by agencies under the ministry,” he said.
Ekweremadu said every talk about growing the economy would not work unless the power sector was repositioned.The lawmakers summoned the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, for a briefing on his plans to protect people in mining communities.They mandated the Committee on Environment and Solid Minerals to visit affected communities and ascertain the levels of damage.
The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) and four other senators on lead poisoning in Zamfara State.The chamber further directed the Committee on Environment to investigate activities of the Ministry of Environment with regard to the mining sector.
Meanwhile, Fayemi has disclosed significant gains made by the mining sector, saying improved funding and planning could soon make the industry break Nigeria’s dependence on crude oil.

Guardian

Wednesday, 27 September 2017

P-Square Split Again!!! By Yvonne Ejiofor

This is not the first time the singing duo had a conflict that threatened to separate them but somehow they had managed to resolved things. Now it seems there is no going back on this declaration of separation.

Lola who is married to one half of the singing duo, Peter, has somehow always managed to be dragged into whatever fight P-Square is having. Fans of the music group and Nigerians in general never hesitate to brandish their weapons and point accusing fingers at the mother of two whenever the family feuds.

Peter and Paul Okoye

Peter Okoye has made several complaints about his twin Paul and their older brother Jude, who happens to be the manager of P Square. Peter accused Paul of being uncooperative and ruining their plans for a musical tour in the US. In addition, Peter said Paul was guilty of slander against his wife and children. Possible further causes of the split could be the fact that Peter had a lot to say about his older brother Jude, who allegedly threatened Peter Okoye with murder. Peter added that Jude also threatened to shoot his wife, Lola, with a pistol.
Social media was then set into disarray after Peter posted a Snapchat video revealing that he is in Philadelphia on his own for a solo performance – without his twin brother, Paul. “My name is Mr P,” Peter said “As from today, guess what? It’s show time, I’m about to go on stage.”
This post came days after his brother, Paul wrote on Instagram saying; “Only a woman can come where there’s peace and destroy it”. and trust Nigerians to take this with a pinch of salt, by all means, blaming Lola.
We can only wish the once duo success as they decide to take on solo careers.

Guardian

Thursday, 24 August 2017

Buhari to decide SGF, NIA DG’s fate

• Receives report from Osinbajo panel

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja, Seye Ojo, Ibadan and Romanus Ugwu

President Muhammadu Buhari would decide the fate of the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayo Oke, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday.
Lawal and Oke were suspended on April 19 following and a three-man committee which included the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami and National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno (retd) raised to investigate them.
Prof. Osinbajo, who spoke to journalists after he presented the report to the president, decline to revealthe content. He insisted that the president would study it make his decisions known at a yet to be determined date.
“Of course not. I mean this is a report, which contains recommendations to the president. It is a fact finding committee as you know and what our terms of reference were was to find out, based on the fact available to us and based on the interviews of witnesses of what transpired in those cases of the report, one involving the SGF and the other the DG of NIA. We have now concluded and we submitted a full report with recommendations to the president. We cannot, of course, give you any kind of details because the president has to look at the report, study it and then make his own decisions based on that report.”
Buhari was originally scheduled to receive the report on May 8, but had to leave travel on May 7 after he received the 104 released Chibok secondary school girls, for medical consultations with his doctors in London. He returned last Saturday after 103 days.
Asked if Nigerians should expect a fair report despite the fact that the suspended SGF is a friend of the president, the vice president replied: “Well, as you can imagine, we are always fair-minded and the whole approach is to ensure that justice is done in all cases.
“It is in the interest of the government and also in the interest of the nation that things are done properly and that there is due process and that we are not unfair. You can be sure that we will do the right thing.”
On how soon Nigerians should expect the president’s decision on the report, Osinbajo said: “All I can now say is that we have submitted the report, and it is a very detailed report, as a matter of fact. The president has to study the report and make decisions.”
Asked if heads would roll, he replied: “No, how can I tell you? If you want to know what is in the report you have to wait, you really have to wait.”
President Buhari had in April ordered the suspension of Lawal and Oke.
He also ordered investigation into the allegations of violations of law and due process made against Lawal in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).
The Senate had indicted Global Vision Ltd., owned by the SGF last December for benefiting from inflated and phantom contracts – or ones not executed at all – awarded by the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE). The company got over N200 million contracts to clear invasive grass in Yobe State Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp.
Oke’s travail followed the discovery of substantial sum of money in local and foreign currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the NIA made a claim.
Dr. Habibat Lawal was named acting SGF, while Ambassador Arab Yadam, was also named acting NIA DG as directed by Buhari that the most senior permanent secretary in the Office of the SGF and senior deputy in NIA.
Earlier, the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) which has held all the time Buhari was away on medical vacation was shelved.
Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, however, failed to give reasons for the cancellation of the meeting.
Adesina only said the president would receive the report of the investigation committee into the allegations against the suspended SGF and the DG, NIA.
However, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome described as shameful and disgraceful, a statement by the presidency that Buhari could not work from his office because of rats and rodents.
Ozekhome said the statement derided and shamed Nigeria as a country.
“So, a whole Julius Berger, the German construction giant has to be called in to drive them away and repaint the office! This statement further derides and shames Nigeria as a country. Why didn’t the same, or similar rodents pursue Obasanjo, Yar’adua and Jonathan during their presidency?” he queried.
He said that for truth, there was another mini office at the villa quite different from the official residence and main office.
“Let PMB work from them. Let’s see our president working, not through still photo shopping. For how long will this government take the Nigerian citizens for a ride and for robots? Who told the image makers we are as brainless as they are? Don’t they know that lies have expiry date and that propaganda cannot substitute for image making?”
Meanwhile, former presidential aspirant, Princess Hadiza Ibrahim, said Buhari should probe allegations that hyenas and jackals have infiltrated his administration.
She described the hyenas and jackals as “those people that did not want Buhari to come back and wanted this country to be upside down.They are the enemies of this country. And they know themselves. I know that Buhari will do some fact-finding and get to know them. I advise the hyenas and the jackals to run. So, those who feel they should run, should run now.
“President Buhari should sit down properly, look at the right and left, though he has done a little mistakes, which he accepted by his speech and he should put them right. We are all happy that President Buhari has returned to Nigeria. It is a great loss to be ashamed of a shameless person. Baba should throw out the hyenas and jackals in his kingdom. If they wished him dead and he is back, he should put them in their places.”

Culled from Sun

Thursday, 10 August 2017

Akintola at 98: Anyaoku delivers lecture today

FORMER Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, will today deliver a lecture in commemoration of the 98th birthday of Chief Akintola Williams, the first African to qualify as a chartered accoun- tant.
Anyaoku’s lecture, entitled: “Re-establishing Nigeria’s leadership position in the World,” is the third in series of lectures organised by the Akintola Williams Foundation since 2015.
Born on August 9, 1919, Chief Williams began his education at Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Bankole Street, Apongbon, Lagos Island, in the early 1930s, the same primary school his late younger brother, Chief Rotimi Williams attended.
His firm, founded in 1952, later grew organically and through mergers to become the largest professional ser- vices firm in Nigeria by 2004.
Williams participated in founding the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. During a long career, Williams received many honours.
Anyaoku, the lecturer, was the third Commonwealth Secretary-General.
He was educated at Merchants of Light School, Oba and attended the University College of Ibadan, then a col- lege of the University of London, from which he obtained an honours degree in Classics as a College Scholar.
Anyaoku joined the Commonwealth Development Cor- poration in 1859 and by 1962, he came in contact with the then Prime Minister of Nigeria, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belewa, having accompanied his visiting boss, Lord Ho- wick, Chairman of the Commonwealth Development Corporation, to a meeting with the Prime Minister on the activities of the corporation in Nigeria and the West Afri- can region.
The Prime Minister, impressed by Anyaoku’s answers to some of his questions on the projects supported by the CDC in West Africa, took an interest in his future and persuaded him to consider joining the Nigerian Foreign Service.
After a grueling interview by the Federal Civil Service Commission, Anyaoku was offered an appointment in the Foreign Service in April 1962. Within a month of his en- try, he was appointed Personal Assistant to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for External Affairs.
In 1966, Anyaoku joined the Commonwealth Secretar- iat as Assistant Director of International Affairs. In 1977, the Commonwealth Heads of Government elected him as Deputy Secretary-General. Anyaoku was to become Ni- geria’s Foreign Minister in 1983 in the short-lived Shehu Shagari’s second term in office as president.
After the overthrow of the government by the mili- tary later that year, he returned to his position as Deputy Secretary-General. In 1989, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Kuala Lumpur, Anyaoku was elected the third Commonwealth Secretary-General. He was re-elected at the 1993 CHOGM in Limassol for a sec- ond five-year term, beginning on April 1, 1995.

Sun

Thursday, 27 July 2017

Okorocha, Fani-Kayode fight dirtyBy Emma Njoku and George Onyejiuwa

• You lack native sense, Gov tells ex-minister
• You’re suffering inferiority complex, ex-minister replies

The media war between Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has got messier.
Okorocha, in a statement signed by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, yesterday, described the ex-minister as bereft of native sense.
“Fani-Kayode’s only claim to fame is the prominent background of his family without which he has nothing else to show,” he said.
Fani-Kayode had, through his media aide, Jude Ndukwe, expressed doubts about the authenticity of the photograph published in the media from the recent visit of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some governors to President Muhammadu Buhari in London. He had described Okorocha’s action as “a sign of desperation to serve the evil purposes for which he has been procured.”
Okorocha, in his reaction, dismissed the former aviation minister as a “spoilt and over pampered child.”
But Fani-Kayode countered by referring to the Imo State governor as “a dirty, cheap, fat, ugly frog that mistakes himself for a monkey simply because he can hop…”
Okorocha said Fani Kayode “needs a psychiatric examination of his mental health.” He said if the ex-minister had any problem with the visit of the APC delegation to Buhari in London he should have dwelt on that rather than going personal without addressing the issue.
“And on our part, as responsible people, we had delayed in responding to Kayode’s attacks or hesitated in joining issues with him because most Nigerians had, before now, doubted his intelligent quotient and had also called for certain clinical examinations.
“Again, there is obviously a very wide gulf between a man who has succeeded in every segment of life through the dint of hard work and, indeed, by God’s grace, and someone whose only claim in the society or his only meal ticket is the late father’s name.
“And we also know that spoilt and over pampered children do not know what it takes to have self-discipline and respect for others,” Okorocha said.
The Imo Sate governor said he began life as a street hawker and ended up being a governor and successful man, both in business and in other areas of life, and also obtained a Masters degree in law from the University of Jos without parental contributions.
“And for him (Fani-Kayode), at the age of eight, he was already at Brighton College, Brighton, in the UK and, also, studied law at London University. And one can see that what Africans call “native sense” might have eluded him. And this “native sense” guides or helps one a lot, including how to talk to people especially superiors,” Okorocha said.
Fani-Kayode, however, said the Imo State governor “is suffering from a terrible and debilitating inferiority complex.”
He described Okorocha as “a primitive and bush villager of questionable paternity whose father remains unknown even to his mother.
“Instead of respecting himself, shutting up and seeking for forgiveness from God for betraying his Igbo people, addressing his elders and betters in an inappropriate and insolent manner, and playing the fool, the village idiot called Rochas Okorocha has, once again, fouled up the public space by opening his dirty mouth and talking about Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, the former Minister of Culture and Tourism and former Minister of Aviation.”
Fani-Kayode said it was not a crime to have been born into a well-to-do family and neither was it a sin. He said Okorocha “has no decorum, no finesse, no decency, no class, no education and no integrity.”
“We repeat that a man who constantly speaks up for and supports a government that consistently slaughters and routinely massacres his own (Igbo) people can only be described as a sociopathic self-hating Igbo, who is suffering from a terrible and debilitating inferiority complex.
“When he finishes his tenure as governor he will crawl back into the filthy cesspit and hole from which he came.
“FFK was never a ritualist, a cultist, a 419er, a sodomite, a traitor or a dirty and unreliable street urchin and scammer. He never ruined the lives of millions, bowed before strange gods and slept in coffins to make his money.
“He never sold his soul to the devil or his body to reprobate men who lust for other men in return for money and power.”
The former minister said Okorocha has much to answer for and “the evil spirits that, by his own admission, have been tormenting him ever since he became governor will soon take their pound of flesh.
“The sword of the Lord is poised to strike and the judgement of God awaits him for his many indiscretions and sins. Thereafter comes hellfire,” Fani-Kayode concluded.

Sun

Monday, 17 July 2017

US Moves to Seize 200ft Yacht, Other Luxury Properties from Kola Aluko, Others

Alison-Madueke to Kola Aluko: “If you want to hire a yacht, you lease it for two weeks or whatever… You don’t go and sink funds into it at this time when Nigerian oil and gas sector is under all kinds of watch.” – Intercepted recording of an apparent phone conversation between former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and oil trader, Kola Aluko

Demola Ojo with agency reports

US prosecutors on Friday moved to seize $144m in assets including a 200-foot yacht and a Manhattan condominium one block from Central Park, calling them the fruits of an international bribery scheme that involved the former Nigerian Oil Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The justice department action targeted Nigeria’s oil man, Mr Kola Aluko’s vessel, Galactica Star, which its builder bills as the “world’s largest fast displacement yacht”, along with condominium units in Manhattan and real estate in Southern California located just three miles from the Pacific Ocean.

From 2011 to 2015, two Nigerian oil men, Kolawole Aluko and Olajide Omokore, alledgedly conspired with others to bribe the country’s minister for petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in order to win oil production contracts worth $1.5bn, according to a civil forfeiture complaint. At the time, along with controlling the country’s state-owned oil company, Mrs. Alison-Madueke, also headed the Vienna-based oil cartel, OPEC. Nigeria’s federal high court earlier this year charged her with money laundering and she has previously denied any wrongdoing. After awarding government contracts to shell companies owned by the two men, Mrs. Alison-Madueke — known as “the madam” or “Madam D” — was rewarded with a “lavish lifestyle”, according to the US Department of Justice.

Alison-Madueke has since denied any wrong-doing in her relationship with Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore.
A civil forfeiture complaint is merely an allegation that money or property was involved in or represents the proceeds of a crime. These allegations are not proven until a court awards judgment in favour of the US.

“The United States is not a safe haven for the proceeds of corruption,” said acting assistant attorney-general Kenneth Blanco. “If illicit funds are within the reach of the United States, we will seek to forfeit them and to return them to the victims from whom they were stolen.”

Though known as “a small time trader” who had previously earned around $500,000 annually, in less than three years, Mr. Aluko purchased more than $87m of US property and the $82m yacht, according to the complaint, filed in US district court in Houston. According to the complaint, in a conversation with Mr Aluko that prosecutors say Mrs. Alison-Madueke recorded, she criticised him for his lavish spending. “If you want to hire a yacht, you lease it for two weeks or whatever,” she said. “You don’t go and sink funds into it at this time when Nigerian oil and gas sector is under all kinds of watch.”

The two businessmen allegedly purchased millions of dollars worth of property in and near London for the oil minister and her family and then furnished the homes with furniture, artwork and other luxury items from Houston-area stores that she fancied. In January 2011, the Nigerian businessmen and unidentified co-conspirators bought a Buckinghamshire home known as “The Falls” for £3.25m. Two months later, as Mr Aluko was meeting with Nigerian oil officials to discuss a contract, he arranged to buy two properties near London’s Regent’s Parks: a £1.7m home at 39 Chester Close and 58 Harley House on the Marylebone Road for £2.8m. The first property, upgraded with an elevator and new stone flooring and countertops, was intended for the use of Ms Alison-Madueke’s mother and her son, according to the complaint. The men that month also purchased a £3.7m flat at 83-86 Prince Albert Road for the oil minister. Ms Alison-Madueke appears to have favoured furniture stores in the Houston area, which she patronised on periodic visits to the US oil industry capital. On a single day in May 2012, Mr Aluko wired $461,500 from a Swiss bank account to one furniture store and spent an additional $262,091 at a second on the oil minister’s behalf, the complaint says.

The case was brought as part of DoJ’s kleptocracy asset recovery initiative. Mr Aluko and Mr Omokore created two shell companies in the British Virgin Islands — Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria and Atlantic Energy Brass Development — to handle their oil contracts. Though the companies, which prosecutors say were “unqualified”, failed to fulfil the terms of their deals, they were allowed to produce and sell more than $1.5bn worth of Nigerian crude oil. The pair then created additional shell companies to launder the proceeds through the US, prosecutors said. Mr Aluko’s last known address was in Porza-Lugano, Switzerland, while Mr Omokore is described as a resident of Lagos.
According to the Justice Department, the complaint announced Friday demonstrates the Department’s commitment to working with our law enforcement partners around the globe to trace and recover the proceeds of corruption, no matter the source.”

“Business executives who engage in bribery and illegal pay-offs in order to obtain contracts create an uneven marketplace where honest competitor companies are put at a disadvantage,” said Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Andrew W. Vale. “Along with the Department of Justice, international law enforcement partners and other US federal agencies, the FBI is committed to pursuing all those who attempt to advance their businesses through corrupt practices.”

The US government also stated that Aluko, Omokore and others funded a lavish lifestyle for Alison-Madueke. According to the allegations, they purchase millions of dollars in real estate in and around London for Alison-Madueke and her family members, then renovated and furnished these homes with millions of dollars in furniture, artwork and other luxury items purchased at two Houston-area furniture stores.

In return, the US government said Alison-Madueke used her influence to direct a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to award Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) to two shell companies created by Aluko and Omokore: Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Ltd. and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Ltd. (the Atlantic Companies).

Under the SAAs, the Atlantic Companies were required to finance the exploration and production operations of eight on-shore oil and gas blocks. In return for financing these operations, the companies expected to receive a portion of the oil and gas produced.

However, according to the complaint, the Atlantic Companies provided only a fraction of the agreed upon financing or, in some instances, failed entirely to provide it. The companies also failed to meet other obligations under the SAAs, including the payment of $120 million entry fee. Nevertheless, according to the allegations, the companies were permitted to lift and sell more than $1.5 billion worth of Nigerian crude oil.

The government contends the Atlantic Companies then used a series of shell companies and intermediaries to launder a portion of the total proceeds of these arrangements into and through the US.

“Today’s announcement would not have been possible without the remarkable work conducted by a group of dedicated investigators, attorneys and international partners who were committed to leaving no stone unturned in this case targeting international corruption,” said Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, Stephen E. Richardson.

“This case demonstrates that the FBI will not tolerate American institutions and property being used to launder proceeds of foreign corruption and today’s filing is an important step towards recovering identified funds. This should serve as a warning to other corrupt foreign officials that the United States is not open for their business.”

Culled from Thisday

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

Most wanted criminal shot dead in Anambra-Aloysius Attah

It was the end of the road for a suspected armed robber and leader of a cult group, who had been on the wanted list of the police for five years, when he was shot dead in Anambra State last week.

The suspect, Chukwuezugo, alias Zion, who was shot by a rival cult group in Obosi, Idemili LGA, was among suspected criminals whose cases were announced during the parade of over 100 suspects arrested for armed robbery, child theft, cultism and human trafficking by the Anambra State Police Command yesterday.

Addressing journalists at the command headquarters in Amawbia, Commissioner of Police, Garba Baba Umar, said the deceased’s accomplice, Okagbue, alias Hajia, in whose shop he was murdered, had been arrested and was now assisting the police with information that could lead to the arrest of other accomplices.

Umar said the police got a distress call over gunshots and promptly dispatched policemen to the area, where it was discovered that the victim had been on the wanted list of the police since 2012 for armed robbery, cultism and drug peddling.

Giving a breakdown of the successes recorded under a short period, the CP said one Oluchi, 24, was arrested on July 8, 2017, for stealing a two-month-old baby, in connivance with her friend, Nchedochi, 26.

Umar said the duo sold the baby to a woman, popularly known as First Lady, now at large.

The CP disclosed that the suspect, in order to conceal her crime, reported to the police station under false pretence that she left her baby in the custody of a woman, who absconded with it.

He said exhibits recovered from the principal suspect included N250,000 cash and one motorcycle that the suspect allegedly bought with part of the money realised from the sale of the baby.

In the same period, the police attached to the Command Monitoring Unit, Awka, busted a child trafficking syndicate, which allegedly conspired and trafficked one Ifeanyi Odili, 10, for N300,000.

Members of the syndicate nabbed by the police included Rev. Raymond, 60, Angela, 42, Obinigwe, 56, and Jacob, 56.

Also paraded were Ogechukwu, 24, who was apprehended near Enamel bus stop, Okpoko, Awada, along the Onitsha-Owerri road during a robbery. He claimed that other members of his gang escaped.

The CP said the suspects, on sighting the police, opened fire and the police responded accordingly. One of the suspects, who sustained gunshot wounds on his leg, was arrested, while his accomplices escaped into the bush.

Exhibits recovered from the suspects include one cut-to-size single barrel gun, two live cartridges and charms.

Umar added that between June 26, 2017, and now, the command has responded promptly to distress calls at various locations across the state and foiled many robberies, which led to the arrest of 15 other suspects and over 40 suspected cult members.

The CP called on members of the public to refrain from covering their vehicle number plates, misuse of siren and destruction of billboards and posters of perceived political rivals by political thugs.

Meanwhile, Governor Willie Obiano has charged police officers in the state to discharge their duties with utmost dedication in order to maintain the status of the state as the safest in Nigeria.

Obiano gave the charge at the police headquarters when he made a surprise appearance when the police command received the mobile police squad from MOPOL 27, Katsina, which was on a working visit to the state. Obiano told the squad that the state, under his watch, had zero tolerance for cultism.

Culled from Sun

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Inquiry needed into 'Saudi Arabia's funding of Islamist extremism in UK'

Theresa May speaks with members of the welcoming delegation after her arrival in Riyadh in April Credit: Bloomberg

A public inquiry must be launched into the Gulf states' funding of the Islamist extremism in Britain that is fuelling terrorism, according to a think tank.
A clear and growing link can be drawn between overseas money, which mainly comes from Saudi Arabia, and the recent wave of atrocities in the UK and Europe, the Henry Jackson Society said.
The kingdom's 60-year campaign to export hardline Wahhabi Islam has led to support for mosques and Islamic institutions that appear to have links to extremism, the organisation said.

It found there have been "numerous" cases of Britons who have joined Jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria whose radicalisation is thought to link back to foreign-funded institutions and preachers.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud shakes hands with Theresa May in Riyadh in April Credit: Reuters

Prime Minister Theresa May, who visited Saudi Arabia earlier this year, has been accused of "kowtowing" to the kingdom by "suppressing" a report into the funding of extremist groups in the UK.
An inquiry was ordered in 2015 but reports have suggested the findings may never be published because of the sensitivity of the investigation's information regarding Saudi Arabia.
Labour MP Dan Jarvis said: "This report from the Henry Jackson Society sheds light on what are extremely worrying links between Saudi Arabia and the funding of extremism here in the UK.

"In the wake of the terrible and tragic terrorist attacks we've seen this year, it is vital that we use every tool at our disposal to protect our communities.
"This includes identifying the networks that promote and support extremism and shutting down the financial networks that fund it.
"I'm calling on the Government to release its foreign funding report, and guarantee that the new counter extremism commission will make tackling the funding of extremism a priority."

The Henry Jackson Society, which describes its approach to foreign and defence policy as "robust", called for a public inquiry into the issue.
Foreign funding for British extremism comes mainly from governments and state-backed foundations in the Gulf along with Iran, its study showed.
Report author Tom Wilson said: "There is a clear and growing link between foreign funding of Islamist extremism and the violent terrorism we have witnessed across the UK and Europe.
"The key now is to get ahead of the issue and find out the full extent of what has been going on. A public inquiry would go some way to informing the debate.
"While entities from across the Gulf and Iran have been guilty of advancing extremism, those in Saudi Arabia are undoubtedly at the top of the list.

"Research indicates that some Saudi individuals and foundations have been apparently heavily involved in exporting an illiberal, bigoted Wahhabi ideology."
A Government spokesman said: "Defeating the evil ideology of Islamist extremism is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The Commission for Counter-Extremism, which the PM announced earlier this year, will have a key role to play in this fight.
"We are determined to cut off the funding which fuels the evils of extremism and terrorism, and will work closely with international partners to tackle this shared global threat, including at the upcoming G20 summit."

Culled from Telegraph

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

Etisalat CEO, CFO Resign as Crisis Deepens

• NCC, CBN in crucial meeting with telco, banks
• Commission’s board to meet Tuesday

Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja and Emma Okonji in Lagos

The debt crisis rocking Etisalat Nigeria took a new turn Monday when the company’s chief executive officer (CEO), Mr. Matthew Willsher, and chief financial officer (CFO), Mr. Wole Obasunloye, resigned their appointments.

Their resignation came a few days after its Emirati non-executive directors (NEDs), representing the interests of Mubadala Development Company and Emirates Telecoms Group Company (Etisalat Group) also stepped down from the board, following the Nigerian company’s inability to meet its loan repayments amounting to $1.2 billion to 13 Nigerian banks.

The resignations also followed Etisalat Group’s reporting disclosure on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange two weeks ago that it had pulled out of Etisalat Nigeria and was transferring 45 per cent of its stake and 25 per cent of its preference shares in its Nigerian subsidiary to United Capital Trustees Limited, the legal representative of the lending banks.

Aside Etisalat Group, other shareholders of Etisalat Nigeria include Mubadala Development Company with a 40 per cent stake and Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), representing the Nigerian shareholders, with 15 per cent.
Etisalat had in 2013 approached a consortium of 13 local banks for a loan of $1.2 billion for network upgrade and expansion. The money was sourced in dollar and naira denominations.

However, citing the economic downturn of 2015-2016 and naira devaluation, which negatively impacted on the dollar-denominated component of the loan, Etisalat wrote its creditors informing them of its intention to halt the repayment of the loan in instalments, until such a time that it was able to raise more money.
Unsatisfied with the excuse from Etisalat, the banks threatened to take over the operations of the telecoms company should it fail to meet its payment obligations.
The situation forced Etisalat to enter into negotiations with the banks, seeking unreasonable write-offs, which the banks rejected.

Banks involved in the loan deal include: Zenith Bank, GTBank, FirstBank, UBA, Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, Ecobank, FCMB, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Union Bank.
THISDAY had exclusively reported that a breakdown of the amounts owed the banks showed that Zenith Bank has the highest exposure to Etisalat amounting to $262 million and N80 billion, GTBank has the second highest exposure of $138 million and N42 billion, Access Bank follows with $131 million and N40 billion.

Etisalat also owes UBA $125 million and N38 billion; FirstBank – $79 million and N24 billion; Fidelity Bank – $56 million and N17 billion; Stanbic IBTC – $25 million and N7.5 billion; FCMB – $15 million and N4.5 billion; and Ecobank – $10 million and N3.1 billion.

But Etisalat, in a statement two weeks ago, had countered this information, stating that it had paid $500 million up till February 2017. It said the outstanding loan to the lenders stands at $227 million and N113 billion, a total of about $574 million if the naira portion is converted to US dollars.
THISDAY had also reported that the CFO of the company was alleged to have diverted an estimated $700,000 realised from the sale of its telecommunications masts to IHS, a Nigerian towers and telecommunications infrastructure provider, instead of using the funds to repay the banks.

According to bank officials, they had financed the importation and purchase of the towers through Huawei of China to help build the infrastructure backbone for Etisalat.
But when the telco earned foreign currencies from the sale, Etisalat failed to repay its US dollar loans as was done by other telcos like MTN and Airtel.

As a result, the lending banks had resolved to take over the firm and pursue the prosecution of Etisalat’s directors.
However, their bid to take over Etisalat was halted by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, which made it clear that its licence was not transferable without its approval. NCC’s position was backed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The suspicion is that the mass resignations were an attempt by the directors and senior executives of Etisalat to absolve themselves of criminal and civil liability over the debt default.
As of press time, the NCC and CBN were in yet another crucial meeting with the banks and officials of Etisalat to address the crisis.

It was expected that a decision would be made on the appointment of new directors, CEO and CFO for the company and may be announced Tuesday.
An insider source told THISDAY that the banks are bent on restructuring the board and management of the telecoms company to reflect their interest.

Also, another industry source disclosed that the board of NCC would hold an emergency board meeting Tuesday morning in Abuja to work out a plan to stem the value erosion and crisis of confidence that have hit Etisalat arising from the non-resolution of the debt crisis.
An NCC board member, who spoke with THISDAY in Abuja Monday, said that unless the matter was “handled strategically”, the current challenges facing the company might lead to the loss of subscribers on the Etisalat network, job losses, and erosion of investor confidence,

“I have just received a notice for an emergency meeting; the issue of Etisalat will be discussed and addressed. We have some other meetings that are coming up very soon where the issues will be addressed. One thing we don’t want to happen is for the company to collapse,” the board member told THISDAY.
“That is why an institution like AMCON (Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria) was floated by the federal government. That is why you have Arik Airline still flying today, in spite of the huge financial challenges. It is not in our interest as a commission or as a nation to allow Etisalat to go down.

“We will look into it and find ways to solve the problem. If the foreign investors are no longer interested in the company we will reposition it in such a way that it will attract other investors. I am sure other people will be interested. I don’t think workers will lose their jobs because we are going to look into the case of Etisalat,” he added.
He also said that NCC was doing its best to ensure stability in the sector by ensuring that the necessary infrastructure is put in place to enhance efficiency in the sector.

He further revealed that the NCC was also looking at the ICT centres, including those in higher institutions in order to make them more effective; to make sure that clients or subscribers are not over charged and ensuring that there are customer centres across the country, where people can lay their complaints and instantly get attended to.

Culled from Thisday

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Arewa youths write FG

• Plead for Igbo to have Biafra

By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi & Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

A new twist emerged in the October 1, 2017 quit notice handed down to Igbo living in the North, yesterday, as Arewa youths pleaded with the Federal Government to arrange a plebiscite, which would allow the South-east have Biafra Republic.

Leaders of Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum and Northern Emancipation Network, in a letter dated June 19, 2017 and signed by Shettima Yerima, Joshua Viashman, Aminu Adam, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman and Nastura Ashir Sharif, and addressed to Acting President Yemi osinbajo, said Federal Government should allow a peaceful process that would excise the South-east from the federation.

“While we do not see this clamour for Biafra as an issue over which a single drop of blood should be shed, we, at the same time, insist that the Igbo be allowed to have their Biafra and for them to vacate our land peacefully so that our dear country Nigeria could finally enjoy lasting peace and stability,” the coalition said.

The letter read further:

“Concerned by the fact that the Biafrans have confessed to arming themselves for a violent breakup, we feel that it is risky for the rest of the country, particularly the North, to go on pretending that it is safe for us to cohabitate with the Igbo given how deeply they are entrenched in our societies.

“And, since evidently, the Igbo have not been sufficiently humbled by their self-imposed bloody civil violence of 1966, we are strongly concerned that nothing short of granting their Biafran dream will suffice.

“And, since the Igbo have virtually infiltrated every nook and cranny of Northern Nigeria where they have been received with open arms, as fellow compatriots, we strongly believe that the region is no longer safe and secure in the light of the unfolding threats and the fact that for a long time, the Igbo have gone to extraordinary length to ensure that in their domain in the South East, northerners and westerners are as much as possible disenfranchised from owning any businesses whereas, in Kano alone, they own not less than 100,000 shops across all the business districts.

“That, since the younger generation of Nigerians makes up for more than 60 percent of the nation’s population, it is our hope that they inherit this country in better shape so that they can build a much better future for themselves and their offspring in an atmosphere that is devoid of anarchy, hate, suspicion and negativity that characterise the polarised, and clearly irreconcilliable differences forced on us by the Biafran Igbo.

“To make a bad situation even worse, their leaders have continued to show support for this treacherous cause and, thus, giving credence to our concern that what they say against us is what they truly mean and intend – ‘kill everyone in the zoo’ (North).”

The Arewa youths said they could not afford to discard the threat as mere mischief as the utterances that caused the Rwandan genocide was still fresh in the mind.

The youths said while they are not waging war or calling anyone to violence, they averred they were, also, not willing to continue tolerating the “malicious campaign and threats of war that the Igbo have continued to wage against us.

“Neither can we afford to continue giving the keys to our cities to a people whose utterances, plans and arrangements are clearly geared towards war and anarchy.

“We, therefore, demand that the only enduring solution to this scourge that is being visited on the nation is complete separation of the states presently agitating for Biafra from the Federal Republic of Nigeria through a peaceful political process by:

“Taking steps to facilitate the actualisation of the Biafran nation in line with the principle of self-determination as an integral part of contemporary customary international law.

“The principle of self-determination has, since World War II become a part of the United Nations Charter which states in Article 1(2), that one of the purposes of the UN is ‘to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.

“We submit that this protocol envisages that people of any nation have the right to self-determination, and although the Charter did not categorically impose direct legal obligations on member states; it implies that member states allow agitating or minority groups to self-govern as much as possible.

“This principle of self-determination has since been espoused in two additional treaties: The United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 1 of both international documents promote and protect the right of a people to self-determination. State parties to these international documents are obliged to uphold the primacy and realization of this right as it cements the international legal philosophy that gives a people the right to self-determination.

“As the Igbo agitations persist and assume threatening dimensions, we submit that there is need to ensure that they are given the opportunity to exercise the right to self-determination as entrenched under the aforementioned international statutes to which Nigeria is a signatory.”

The Arewa youth coalition said given that the right of self-determination in international law was the legal right for a ‘people’ that allowed them to attain a certain degree of autonomy from a sovereign state through a legitimate political process, “we strongly demand for a referendum to take place in a politically sane atmosphere where all parties will have a democratic voice over their future and the future of the nation.

“The Igbo from all over the country and Diaspora should be advised to converge in their region, in the South-East, for a plebiscite to be organised and conducted by the United Nations and other regional bodies for them to categorically to decide between remaining part of Nigeria or having their separate country.”

The group said government should, at the end of the plebiscite, “implement whatever was agreed and resolved in order to finally put the matter to rest.”

Regardless, a top Presidency source, who declined to be named, because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told Daily Sun that “ongoing consultations with leaders of thoughts and traditional rulers from the North and South-east, following escalation of ethnic tensions, occasioned by the agitation for Biafra and the vacation order issued by northern youths, was the best way to approach the issue.

“Our response is the ongoing consultations the acting president is engaged in with leaders of thought from both regions. It is the best way to get everyone to see reason. The Presidency doesn’t want to escalate the matter by responding to individual groups. The ongoing parley is the best approach.”

Sun

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