Al-Mustapha: I was Detained for 15 years Because of Secret Tape on MKO Abiola’s Death

Al-Mustapha

Ademola Babalola

Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), saturday raised another dust on the mystery surrounding death of the acclaimed June 12 1993 election winner, Chief MKO Abiola. Mustapha attributed his incarceration for 15 years to a secret tape on Abiola’s death and not because of the allegation that he was involved in the death of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the late politician, as widely believed.

Al-Mustapha made this claim while fielding questions from journalists shortly after he delivered the third South-west Annual Lecture entitled: ‘Developing Leadership Abilities in Youths’, organised by the Asorodayo Youth Heritage Organisation at Lafia Hotel, Ibadan.

He said: “On October 21, 1998, I was arrested because of a video cassette, not because of the late Kudirat Abiola. The family of the late Abiola was, as it is, a very close family to me. But something happened, which a particular camera in the villa captured.

“So, they wanted to take the video tape and burn it so that Nigerians will not know what happened. That was the beginning of my travails.”

Speaking further, he said: “Many people, particularly lawyers, took money from those who were looking for the cassette, who ruled Nigeria. They would go to radio and television station to rain abuses on me, rather than coming to court because they were paid to do so. But they did not know what was going on in the court of law.

“I appeared before 14 judges in Lagos. As soon as the matter is about to finish, they would stop it and take us to another court. For 15 years, I was in that state. Out of the 15 years, five years and two months I served in detention with torture. The remaining was between Ikoyi Prisons, Kirikiri Prisons and Jos Prisons.”

According to him, Sergeant Barnabas Jabila Mshiela, also known as Sergeant Rogers, an alleged member of the killer squad of Abacha, confessed that he was paid to do what he did. He added that he appeared before 14 judges before he was released in 2013.

Al-Mustapha, who noted that one of those that purportedly persecuted him was currently incapacitated, saying he is the one sponsoring his (the fellow) child.

“On the late Kudirat Abiola, Rogers himself got to confess in a court of law along with other witness of how much money they were given, who among the big men in Nigeria told them what to say against me. Then, they were busy writing in newspapers. In Nigeria, it is what the newspapers write that radio and television will talk. All other things are buried, and that is what people in the town will talk.

“For 15 years, I hadn’t the chance to defend myself in newspaper, radio and television. So, the belief was Al-Mustapha has committed an offence, even before my arrest. But the actual thing is what happened to the late MKO Abiola that is in that cassette, that they want to see, that is why Mustapha was subjected to punishment and I was called names.”

“They want to know the whereabouts of that tape in the last 17 years. Rogers confessed he was told to do so. He was given money. He was given a house. He was given car every six month, and he was promised to be taken outside Nigeria,” he narrated.

Al-Mustapha added that, “The plan was as soon as Lagos court pronounced me guilty and to be hanged, they would rush me to prison and hang me without giving me the option to go for appeal. That was what happened. Then, they revealed exactly what happened and many people got to know.

“Unfortunately, there are lawyers who used to collect money and go to television houses and call me names. But they didn’t know what happened in the court of law.”

Thanking God that, everything that happened in Lagos State Court was compiled and signed by all the 14 judges, Al-Mustapha argued that, “We are putting it together.”
“My father has already put the book together in three volumes. You will see them soon and know that ‘mumu of this country don do.”

“If I am guilty, there is no way I can talk, there is no way I can get the confidence to look into their eyes because they are the bigger ones above the law in Nigeria”, Al-Mustapha claimed, saying ,“I am doing so. I have done it yesterday, I am doing it now and I will do it tomorrow. If I am dishonest, I can’t do that.”

The former Chief Security Officer to Late Gen. Sani Abacha, said: “So, let us get to know the story right and understand the game. The game is for people to pronounce Al-Mustapha guilty. I thank God, those that entered the contract with inducement not to say what they should say in the court of law; later on when the game was exposed, they came to the court, crying and exposing what happened.

“That is why the matter is before the Supreme Court now for appeal. We are begging them since 2013 for the matter to be heard so that everybody can hear what happened. Up till now, Lagos State Government ran away from it. We are begging them to come to the matter. We have nothing to hide. My teaching is that if I am wrong, I will tell you. If I am right, I will tell you”.

Thisday

American Embassy honours Nigerian TechWomen

Two of the Tech Women fellows, Carolyn Seaman and Damilola Anwo-Adepose with CPAO Aruna Amirthanayagam, Ambassador W Stuart Symington and his wife, Susan. PHOTO: OLA AWORINDE

Nigerian women are highly talented like the American women in the movie, Hidden Figures,” Ambassador W. Stuart Symington said, prior to screening of the movie at Genesis Cinemas, in Abuja on Tuesday, in honour of Nigerian TechWomen. Hidden Figures details the story of three female African-American mathematicians employed by NASA in the 1960s. Working as human computers but denied recognition or promotion, they would go on to play crucial roles in the American space programme.
“It is an amazing story of women who found something that they love, and before there were computers and the Internet, these women made it possible to put the human race in outer space. You too, can reach for the skies,” the U.S. Ambassador said, introducing Carolyn Seaman and Damilola Anwo-Ade, two of five Nigerian women selected to participate in the 2017 TechWomen exchange programme.
Seaman is using technology to empower girls through her Girls Voices Initiative, while Damilola Anwo-Ade is mentoring the next generation of coders, including young women, through her initiative CodeIT. Olamide Ayeni-Babjide, Ijeoma Vincent-Akpu, and Petra Nnamani, though not present at the event, will also participate in the programme.
“We are committed to building the capacity of women to innovate and make positive contributions to their communities through science, technology, and mathematics,” Ambassador Symington remarked.
TechWomen is a U.S. initiative empowering and connecting the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
The program will bring together 100 women leaders in technology fields for a five-week professional mentorship and exchange program at leading technology companies in California’s Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.
In March this year, the U.S. Embassy screened the movie CodeGirl, an American documentary film that featured the story of five Nigerian girls who won the Technovation Challenge in 2015.
Guardian

23 Banks Got N28.7bn Inflows from Dubious MMM Transactions-Ndubuisi Francis

No fewer than 23 Nigerian banks received inflows amounting to N28.7 billion executed in 460,000 transactions through the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM) Ponzi scheme within six months, the 2016 annual report of the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) has revealed.
The amount, which was moved between June and December 2016, is 61 per cent higher than the budget of the Federal Ministry of Education and almost six times over the budget of the Nigerian Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in the 2017 budget, the report erroneously stated.

A quick fact-check by THISDAY of the 2017 budget, as passed by the National Assembly, showed that N139.3 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Defence for its capital spending programme for the year, while N330.54 billion was allocated for recurrent expenditure.
In the case of the budget of the education ministry, the National Assembly passed a provision of N398.70 billion for recurrent spending and N56.72 billion for capital expenditure for the year.

The report disclosed that by the time the scheme “crashed” on December 13, 2016, over N11.9 billion had been lost by gullible subscribers.
The NeFF report, which was unveiled in Abuja Tuesday at a stakeholders workshop on cybercrime, organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), disclosed that since the MMM scheme had a 30-day cycle before return-on-investment (RoI) was realised, everyone who put money into it after November 12, 2016 did not get their money out.

“No fewer than 23 banks received inflows amounting to N28.7 billion executed in 460,000 transactions through the MMM Ponzi scheme. The amount put into the scheme between November 13th and December 15th, 2016 (through interbank transactions) totals over NGN11.9bn. This amount was largely not recovered.

“To put this amount into perspective, the 2017 budget for Defence Headquarters is N4.7 billion. This implies that the amount transferred by Nigerians under the MMM Ponzi scheme would have funded the Nigerian Defence HQ almost six times over.
“Majority of the transfers made by customers of banks that participated in the MMM Ponzi scheme were made through the account-to-account transfer platform.

“This was followed by the mobile channel, and lastly, through the web channels of other transfer platforms in the industry,” the report said.
It added that 34 financial institutions paid out money for investments into the MMM Nigeria Ponzi scheme, adding that the customers included those of commercial banks, mobile payment operators as well as mortgage banks.

“By the side are the amounts, in terms of volume and value for each financial institution that money was paid out from. Fewer banks received inflows of MMM transactions than the number of banks from which outflows occurred,” the NeFF report stressed.
It also stated that MMM followed the usual pattern of Ponzi schemes, pointing out that “they continue to build momentum and crash when the maximum amounts are already invested in the scheme”.

The NeFF report added that the peak of the MMM investment was in November 2016, when over N13 billion was transferred among the participants, pointing out that the CBN had in the middle of 2016 warned about the dangers of the scheme.
In a related development, the volume of fraud reported in 2016 indicated an 82 per cent increase in reported cases, with an estimated N2.19 billion losses.

The NeFF 2016 annual report titled, “A Changing Payments Ecosystem: The Security,” said the financial industry recorded an 82 per cent rise when compared to 2015 and over 1,200 per cent rise when juxtaposed with the situation in 2014.
According to the report, despite the 82 per cent increase in reported fraud cases, the industry was able to reduce fraud by 2.7 per cent when compared to the 2015 figure.
“Comparing the attempted fraud against the actual losses, the industry was able to salvage 49.7 per cent of the total amount attempted by these fraudsters within the year.

“These figures informed us that there are more attempts on a yearly basis with different innovation tricks or modus operandi to take advantage of the system,” the NeFF report said.
The report also noted that 2016 witnessed a significant transaction increase across all payment channels in both volume and value in spite of the economic recession.

“In contrast with 2015, there was a 71.43 per cent spike in the volume of transactions processed through the NCS (Nigeria Central Switch),” it said.
In his address at the unveiling of the NeFF 2016 annual report, CBN’s Director, Banking and Payments System and NeFF Chairman, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, stated that the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) report of the Nigeria fraud landscape for 2016 indicated that fraud cases grew by 82 per cent over the 2015 figures, attributing the trend to the increased usage of new payment platforms.

Meanwhile, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has called on stakeholders to ensure that the Cybercrime Act is effectively enforced, to serve as a deterrent and constant reminder to those who may wish to engage in illicit activities targeting the financial technology infrastructure.
“It is now about two years into the commencement of the Act, and so it is not too early to conduct a holistic review of its implementation, hence the theme of this workshop: ‘Tackling Enforcement Challenges under the Cybercrime Act’,” Emefiele said.

He noted that as the regulator of the financial sector, the CBN is constantly confronted with issues raised by operators who occupy the unenviable position of first line of defence against cyber attacks on the systems, networks and infrastructure through which financial services are carried out in the country.

“While the issue about cyber security is not wholly legal in nature, and while considerable efforts have been made by the CBN and banking operators, especially through the Bankers’ Committee and other bodies, leading to reduced incidents of fraud on the one hand, and very high consumer confidence in our payment system on the other, we are nevertheless desirous that the Cybercrime Act is effectively enforced, to serve as a deterrent and constant reminder to those who may wish to engage in illicit activities targeting our financial technology infrastructures,” he said.

Culled from Thisday

Ex-Panamanian leader, Manuel Noriega dies

Former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who spied for the CIA before his drug trafficking and brutal regime sparked a U.S. invasion in 1989, has died aged 83.
President Juan Carlos Varela announced Noriega’s death on Twitter late on Monday, and said his passing marked the closing of a chapter in Panama’s history.
Noriega, who ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989, spied for the Central Intelligence Agency until the United States invaded and toppled his corrupt government, ending a criminal career that saw him working with drug traffickers like Pablo Escobar.
Noriega was initially sentenced in the United States in 1992 but was serving a sentence for murder in Panama when he died.
The wily military ruler of the Central American nation made world headlines as his relationship with Washington soured, culminating in the United States sending nearly 28,000 troops to seize Panama City and capture him in a house-to-house hunt.
Noriega spent the rest of his life in custody between the United States, France and Panama for crimes ranging from murder to racketeering and drug-running.
The former dictator had undergone an operation in March to remove a brain tumor but suffered a hemorrhage and had been in a coma since a second surgical intervention.
A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Noriega died at around 11 p.m. local time after his condition suddenly worsened.
With the knowledge of US officials, Noriega formed “the hemisphere’s first narcokleptocracy,” a US Senate subcommittee report said, calling him, “the best example in recent US foreign policy of how a foreign leader is able to manipulate the United States to the detriment of our own interests.”
After his capture, Noriega tried to turn the tables on the United States, saying it had worked hand in glove with him.

Culled from Sun

Okorocha Rejects FG Appointment Given To His Daughter

Here's an official press release from the governor;

RE: THE APPOINTMENT OF MRS UJU ROCHAS ANWUKA INTO THE BOARD OF FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (TECH) OMOKU

-His Excellency Governor Rochas Okorocha Rejects the Appointment.

The attention of the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has been drawn to the publication listing one of the daughters, Mrs. Uju Rochas Anwuka as a member of the Board of the Federal College of Education (Tech), Omoku.

And it is important to swiftly state, with every sense of concern, that the governor had read about the appointment like every other Nigerian because he was never consulted or briefed on the appointment and that is why the whole thing looks suspicious.

To the governor, the appointment was obviously not done in good faith. Whoever was the brain behind the appointment did so out of unbridled mischief. Otherwise, the person behind the appointment would have had the courtesy of either informing the father or the mother.

The truth of the matter is that the governor’s daughter does not need the appointment. The governor has therefore asked whoever was behind the appointment to withdraw it since the daughter would not have needed the appointment, even if he had not become governor.

Indeed, the governor has the feeling that whoever was behind the appointment did it with something else at the back of his or her mind, otherwise the person would have acted well his or her part by informing him or the mother or even the daughter herself.

The daughter and the entire family reject the appointment.

Sam Onwuemeodo
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor.

Trump meets EU chiefs in Brussels

United States President Donald Trump met the heads of European Union institutions in Brussels on Thursday ahead of a summit of NATO leaders at the military alliance’s headquarters in the city later in the day.
Trump, on the fourth leg of his first foreign trip since taking office, was greeted by European Council President Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister who chairs meetings of the 28 EU leaders.
Also joining the talks will be the bloc’s chief executive, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Trump, who voiced scepticism while campaigning about the EU’s value and hailed Britain’s Brexit vote to quit the bloc, will hear a call from European leaders for him to maintain Washington’s longstanding support for integration on the continent, as well to support free trade and efforts to combat climate change.
Trump questioned the relevance of the NATO military alliance as a presidential candidate, and is considering pulling the US out of the Paris agreement on climate change, a huge concern in Europe.
The EU was also a party to the Iran nuclear agreement, which Trump has criticized sharply.
“We expect him to recommit to NATO’s founding rule that an attack against one ally is an attack against all,” said a senior European diplomat at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
“Words matter and there is a huge expectation on that.”
Trump will also meet Europe’s chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs EU summits, in the morning.
He will then go to NATO’s new, billion-dollar headquarters where he will unveil a memorial to the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
There Trump, in his only scheduled public remarks before a dinner with NATO leaders, is expected to pledge his full support to the alliance he once called “obsolete” because he said it was not doing enough to stop terrorism.
NATO hopes to impress Trump with military bands, allied jets flying overhead and a walk through the glass-and-steel headquarters, which replaces a leaking, 1960s prefab structure.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump would press NATO leaders hard to spend more on defense and take on more of the burden of paying for the alliance, a message Trump has reiterated repeatedly before and after entering the White House.
Trump wants NATO to join the battle against Islamic State, Tillerson told reporters on Air Force One.

SUN

2019: Sule Lamido kicks off presidency race

Unveils plan to 36 PDP state chairmen at Abuja dinner
By Ismail Omipidan
Immediate past governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has kickstarted the 2019 presidential race, with two years left in the administration of the All Progressives Congress.
Lamido unveiled his presidential bid on Monday, at a dinner for the 36 state chairmen of the Peoples Democractic Party (PDP), in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The dinner/meeting, Daily Sun gathered, held at a highbrow facility in Abuja’s affluent Maitama district.
Lamido’s declaration came barely two weeks after he was released on bail, from prison, over allegation of incitement, preferred against him by the Jigawa State Government, and 24 hours after three former commissioners and three ex-local government area  chairmen who served in his administration were also released from prison.
Lamido was said to have unveiled his plans to the 36 state chairmen and all the six national zonal vice chairmen, at the Abuja dinner.
One of his close confidants, confirmed the development to Daily Sun, yesterday. He disclosed that the former governor told the gathering that Nigeria, as a country, has done him a lot of good and the only way he could pay back is to offer himself to serve the country, come 2019.
Lamido was quoted to have said: “For now, what we are doing is internal; that is why I believe I have to start from home. I am aware a lot of people are likely to indicate interest in running on the platform of our great party. Please, we must make sure we go for the best.
“After series of consultations across the length and breadth of Nigeria, when the time comes, I will be offering myself for the presidency. I may not be the only aspirant, but please, when the time comes, only the best should be allowed to emerge on the platform of our great party, the PDP.” Lamido had, in January this year, declared that no matter the level of oppression and intimidation, if God wishes for him to be president in 2019, nobody would stop him.
He had made the declaration then after dozens of heavily armed policemen were deployed to his home country in Bamaina, to prevent hundreds of youths, who had besieged the town to call on the former governor to contest the 2019 Presidency.
Lamido had said: “Those in power today must know the same God that made Balewa, Ironsi, Gowon, Murtala, Shagari, Buhari, Babangida and Jonathan presidents can do the same for me if He so wishes.
“All the coercion and intimidation were because of my aspiration, and I must tell them that no matter what, if Allah has destined that I will be president, they cannot stop me because that will amount to fighting the will of God.
“Leaders should beware of the consequences that follow tyranny, impunity and abuse of human dignity.”
He had equally told the youths who defied police barricades to access his country home that “if your prayers for me to be president of this country is the wish of Allah, let it be, for Allah is the One that made others like Jonathan, Tafawa Balewa, Obasanjo and Buhari President.”
In the build up to the 2015 election, but for his principled stance to stand by the PDP’s decision to field former president Jonathan, some party stakeholders, including former president Olusegun Obasanjo, had preferred him as the party’s candidate, ahead of Jonathan.
For instance, former president  Obasanjo had, in May 2013, two years to the 2015 polls, described Lamido as a good ‘repairer,’ saying any society desirous of change needs Lamido’s type to bring about such a change.
Apparently making reference to Jonathan’s handling of the country’s affairs at the time, Obasanjo further said while it was easy to help someone to find a job, it was impossible to help the same person to do the job, insisting that it was “utter rubbish” for anyone to say one man could not bring about change.
The former president, who said he was proud of the Lamido administration further said: “With Lamido, you know where you stand. When he says he will do, he will do. And when he says he will not do, he will not do. Let’s all pray he doesn’t say he will not do, because if he says he will not do, not even I, Obasanjo, can pressurise him. And you need a man like that.”
Last weekend, the former Jigawa governor told the current governor, Mohammadu Badaru, that no amount of intimidation from him would make the PDP lose focus towards winning the forthcoming Council poll in the state.
He had gone to Kiyawa Prison to sympathise with three former commissioners and three ex-LGA chairmen who served in his administration, who were last Thursday remanded in prison custody.
after their arraignment before a Dutse Chief Magistrate Court II.
They were charged for criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust by public servants, disobeying direction of the law with intent to cause injury to the public, theft and forgery when they held sway as public office holders.
But Lamido said: “It’s simply a ploy to intimidate, terrorise, malign and demean our supporters so they can be broken in terms of their courage to toe the line of the APC before the coming election.
“No power on earth can avert what God ordained. Those who are there now, before them there were others who were there.”
As at the time of filling this report, all the six accused persons had been released on bail.

sun