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Buhari Mourns Ooni, Oba Sijuade, As Osun Government Formally Announces His Death

Ooni of Ife
President Muhammadu Buhari has received with sadness news of the transition of one of Nigeria’s foremost traditional rulers, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II.
In a statement today from the Villa, Abuja, President Buhari condoled with the late Ooni’s family, his friends, associates and subjects, as well as the government and people of Osun State on the departure of the First Class Monarch.
The President described late Ooni as a revered traditional ruler who will be long remembered  and celebrated for his worthy service, over more than three decades, as the Chief Custodian of the traditions of the Yorubas and his invaluable contributions to the sustenance of the cultural heritage of his people within and outside Nigeria.
He said that Oba Sijuwade’s place in posterity has already been assured by his long and worthy service to his people and country. He said the late Monarch had made notable contributions to the development of his community, state and country as a leading businessman, administrator and inspirational traditional ruler.
President Buhari advised the Ooni’s family, friends, associates and subjects to be consoled by the knowledge that he lived a very fulfilled life, and has left worthy legacies for his successors to build upon.

Meanwhile, Osun State Government has, today, formally announced the passing away of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, two weeks after the news of his death came to public knowledge.

The State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, made the announcement at the Government House shortly after he was briefed by the High Chiefs of ile-Ife led by the Obalufe, High Cheif Folorunso Omisakin who is next in command to the late Ooni.

It would be recalled that on Tuesday, 28th of July,2015, the news of the death of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade came to public knowledge from London but was on the following day described as a mere rumour by the high chiefs of ile-Ife.

Since then, Journalists have been hanging around to know the veracity of the information going by the status of the monarch in the country.

But today, various traditional rites to announce his passing away were held including cutting of trees in the palace and Isoro Procession to a place called Enuwa and Some other important places. [myad]

 

4 Die As US-Based Bristow Group Helicopter Plunges Into Lagos Lagoon

Helicopter crashes in Lagos

At least four people were confirmed dead and six wounded when a US-based Bristow Group helicopter plunged into Lagos lagoon. The helicopter belongs to Bristow, a Houston, Texas-based firm that charters helicopters to oil and gas companies.

Reports had it that the helicopter came down behind a police station in the Oworonshoki area in the north of the Lagos city.

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), two persons were still missing.

“Four dead bodies (have been) recovered so far,” said Nema spokesman Ibrahim Farinloye, adding that the wounded had been taken to two hospitals, where their condition was not immediately clear.

An eye witness said that the ill-fated helicopter made a loud noise before nose-diving into the water near the 12km Third Mainland Bridge, the longest of three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the mainland.

Texas-based Bristow’s fleet of around 500 helicopters services the global energy industry and it has transportation operations in Nigeria and most other major offshore oil and gas producing regions of the world.

Spokesman of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Yakubu Dati said that the nationalities of those involved in the accident are yet to be ascertained.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority said the helicopter was en route from an offshore oil rig when it crashed near Third Mainland Bridge, between Victoria Island and the mainland. [myad]

Another Shake Up In National Petroleum Corporation: 38 Top Shots Fired

NNPC Tower
Barely two weeks after eight executive directors were sacked in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), 38 other top management staff have been laid off in the ongoing reorganization of the federal government’s oil company.

With the development the Corporation now has only even as it appointed four new Group Executive Directors to man the four new Directorates that have been approved by the Presidency.

Announcing the restructuring, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, General Manager, corporate affairs  said in a statement: “the new Group Managing Director, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, disclosed that the new appointments are in line with the Federal Government’s aspiration to transform the Corporation into a lean, efficient, business-focused, transparent and accountable national oil company in keeping with international best practices.”

“The appointments which were approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, include Dr. Maikanti Baru, Group Executive Director, Exploration & Production; Mr. Isiaka Abdulrazaq, Group Executive Director, Finance & Services; Engr. Dennis Nnamdi Ajulu, Group Executive Director, Refining & Technology; and Dr. Babatunde Victor Adeniran, Group Executive Director, Commercial & Investment.”

“A new Company Secretary/Legal Adviser and Managing Directors have also been appointed for the Strategic Business Units. They are: Chidi Momah, Group General Manager, Company Secretariat & Legal Adviser; Mrs. Esther Nnamdi Ogbue, Managing Director, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC); Engr. Chinedu Ezeribe, Managing Director, Warri Refinning & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC); Mr. Babatunde Bakare, Managing Director, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC); Mr. Inuwa Ibrahim Waya, Managing Director, Hyson; Mr. Abubakar Mai-Bornu, Managing Director, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC); and Mr. Ladipo Fagbola, Managing Director, NNPC Retail.”

“Others are: Mr. Rowland Ewubare, Managing Director, Integrated Data Services Ltd (IDSL); Mr. Modupe Bammeke, Managing Director, NNPC Properties; Mr. Abdulkadir Saidu, Managing Director, Duke Oil; and Mr. Dafe Sejebor, Group General Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).”

“The Corporation also retired 38 Top Management Staff reducing the number from 122 to 83.”

“Also in line with the aspiration to reposition the Corporation, 12 personnel have been recruited from the private sector into the Top Management cadre to jump-start a new business outlook to enhance the operational environment as a profit-driven business as against the current civil service orientation.” [myad]

 

 

Buhari Worries Over The Fate Of Children In Various Internally Displaced Persons’ Camps

PIC. 5.   SOME INTERNALLY DISPLACED CHILDREN, FROM MADAGALI, MICHIKA AND MUBI   LGA  QUEUING FOR FOOD AT THE BAJABURE  INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP IN   GIREI LGA OF ADAMAWA  ON SUNDAY (14/9/14). 4550/14/9/14/AMA/AIN/NAN
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed worry over the fate of several children languishing in different Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP’s) camps across the country, even as he directed the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs to intensify efforts to re-unite families whose members  are currently scattered in different camps.
President Buhari, who expressed particular concern about the well-being of  children in the camps, said that appropriate  mechanisms must be put in place to ensure the proper up-bringing of the children so that they don’t  grow up to become another national problem.
The President,  who spoke after receiving a briefing from the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Special Duties, Dr. Jamila Shu’ara, also called for a follow-up  on the supervision and audit of constituency projects.
Officials of the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT) also briefed President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa today.
At the end of the briefing, Vice President Osinbajo urged the MFCT to explore alternative sources to boost its revenue base and reduce its dependence on the currently lean resources of the Federal Government for the development and maintenance of infrastructure in Abuja.
“With the coming of the FCT Internal Revenue Board and property taxation, you must be able to generate substantial income to take care of your needs,” the Vice President  told the Permanent  Secretary of the MFCT, Mr. John Chukwu and other officials of the Ministry.
He praised the Permanent Secretary and his team for a “very comprehensive, very detailed and adequate reporting” on the activities of the Ministry.
The Permanent Secretary said that all are now set for the introduction of a new tax regime in the Federal Capital Territory.
“The property tax and the tenement rate will be collected together and a sharing formula has been devised between the Ministry and the council areas in order to avoid multiple taxation,” he said. [myad]

Jonathan’s Police Service Commission Boss In Trouble With Anti Corruption, Asked To Refund N133 Million

Mike Okiro

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has directed the Chairman, Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, who was appointed by the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to refund the sum of N133 million to the Federal Treasury through the ICPC recovery account at First City Monument Bank.

This was the balance of the N350 million he was said to have received from the Federal Government for staff trainings and physical monitoring of police personnel during the last general elections.

The ICPC also ordered the workers of the commission who were paid 2-way return ticket and Airport taxi fares to location within the Federal Capital Territory and States with close proximity to Abuja during the monitoring exercise to refund to the treasury monies, amounting to N11.75 million.

“Consequently, this commission hereby directs, as follows, that the total balance of N133,413,845.99 from the N350,000,000 2015 Election monitoring exercise domiciled within FCMB be remitted to the Federal Treasury through the ICPC Recovery Account No. 1012929790 at Zenith Bank Plc,” it said.

The anti-graft agency said these in its report of investigations into allegations of graft leveled against Okiro by a PSC worker, Solomon Kaase, who petitioned the ICPC in May, 2015 over alleged moves by Okiro to swindle the PSC to the tune of N275 million.

He alleged that the retired Inspector-General of Police claimed that the money would be used to train 900 PSC workers when the total number of the workers of the commission is 391.

Though the ICPC confirmed that the PSC has only 391 workers contrary to 900 claimed by Okiro, it did not indict him over the discrepancy.

It said: “Investigation findings revealed that the commission budgeted for training of 900 staff and to conduct training in Abuja, Lagos and Kano.

“However, the entire staff force was not more that 391 and that is the figure actually trained in a programme held in Abuja only. The Commission accepted the explanation that due process could not be adhered to strictly because of time constraint.”

The report signed by the ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta and dated August 6, 2015, said investigation revealed that the commission paid Daily Travelling Allowances to all staff including those based in Abuja that participated in the training programme held within Abuja.

“Air ticket and DTA were paid to management  staff and others who monitored elections within Abuja and its environs; even at locations were Airports do not exist such as Lokoja and Minna,” the report which was addressed to the commission’s Permanent Secretary, stated.

The ICPC observed that the PSC chairman collected money for two conferences that ran simultaneously in Dublin and Orlando, Florida, noting that he did expend the ticket fare for the Dublin trip.

The agency however said Okiro had written to the Presidency to expend the ticket fare for Abuja-Orlando-Abuja on another trip coming up by October, 2015, stressing that it (ICPC) should be informed if the request was turned down. [myad]

Ebonyi To Partner With UN Population Fund On Child Mortality, Others

Engr Dave Umahi
Engr Dave Umahi

Ebonyi State Governor, Chief David Umahi, has expressed the readiness of his administration to key into the programmes of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to enhance the well-being of women and children in the state.
Governor Umahi spoke when the Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Nigeria, Mrs. Ratidzai Ndhlovu paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House in Abakaliki yesterday.
He appreciated the enormous benefits the state had derived from the programmes of the agency and reiterated the determination of his administration to tackle issues militating against maternal and child health care delivery.
The governor stressed his resolve “to ensure that no woman dies during child birth under his watch” even as he regretted the volume of fake and adulterated drugs in circulation across the country. He appealed to the agency to continue to supply genuine drugs to the state.
He stressed the importance of power supply as major part of primary healthcare delivery and called on the agency to include the provision of electricity in its core mandate to assist in the preservation of drugs and the conduct of laboratory tests required for the treatment of diseases.
Governor Umahi said that his administration attached great importance to primary healthcare, prompting his appointment of three special assistants on Primary Health for each of three senatorial districts in the state.
According to him it is meant to have closer touch with the people to ascertain their health and social needs and report back to government for prompt attention.
Earlier, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund, Ndhlovu, had said that she was in the state to renew the agency’s commitment to strengthen its partnership with the state on top priority areas of maternal health, family planning, institutional delivery, fistula care, etc.
She said that the agency’s vision was to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child birth safe and a world where the potential of every young person is fulfilled.
The UNFPA chief added that in the agency’s present programme circle which started in 2014, “women issues are our core mandate, girls issue are our core mandate, and young boys issue are our core mandate to ensure women don’t die while giving birth.”
Mrs. Ndhlovu called on the state government to key into the UNFPA Government Cash Counterpart contribution towards the programme development aimed at uplifting the state. [myad]

How Political Parasites Milked Nigeria’s Economy, Buhari Laments, Vows To Soon Prosecute Corrupt Leaders

Abdulsalami and Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has described how political and economic parasites invaded Nigeria and milked its resources with impunity, even as he vowed that his administration is irrevocably committed to doing all within its powers to break the vicious cycle of corruption, unemployment and insecurity in Nigeria.
“As Petroleum Minister under General Olusegun Obasanjo (when he was military Head of State) in the 1970’s, I could not travel abroad until I had taken a memo to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) asking for estacode. Now, everybody does what he wants. That is why security-wise and economically, we’re in trouble.”
President Buhari who spoke when he had a meeting today with members of the National Peace Committee, led by the former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, stressed that not too long from now, the prosecution of persons who have stolen national resources will begin.
“Nigeria has to break this vicious cycle before we can make progress. My administration is diligently getting facts and figures pertaining to the nation’s stolen funds, before proceeding to the prosecution of identified culprits.”
He said that the Federal Government, under his leadership, would make those who have stolen the national wealth to be charged to court in a matter of weeks so that “Nigerians will know those who have short-changed them.”
He stressed that they will not only be asked to return the stolen funds that have been stashed in foreign banks, but will also ensure that those who stole the funds are put on trial  in Nigeria.
“We have really degenerated as a country. Our national institutions, including the military, which did wonderfully well on foreign missions in the past, have been compromised. But we are doing something about it. The military is now retraining and morale has been resuscitated.”
The President said that as part of its actions to address the national problems it inherited, his administration is reorganising Nigeria’s revenue generating institutions, adding that a single treasury account had been established for all Federal revenue to ensure greater probity, transparency and accountability in the collection, disbursement and utilisation of national funds.
General Abubakar and members of his committee advised the Federal Government to be guided by the rule of law in its fight against corruption.
Members of the National Peace Committee who accompanied General Abubakar on the visit were Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, His Eminence, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of  Nigeria (CAN) and  Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.
Others were Justice Rose Ukeje (rtd), Professor Ameze Guobadia, Vanguard Newspaper Publisher, Sam Amuka, Dame Priscilla Kuye, Senator Ben Obi, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, and Dr. Arthur-Martin Aginam.
The National Peace Committee, formed before the 2015 general elections, was granted  permission by the President to transform to a National Peace Council. [myad]

A Trash Called Fayose And His Leaking Mouth In Civilised Nigeria, By Mathew Olufemi

File photo: Ekiti state Governor, Ayodele Fayose standing at the court premises in Ekiti state
File photo: Ekiti state Governor, Ayodele Fayose standing at the court premises in Ekiti state

Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose has a foul mouth that leaks offensive odour. He thinks that the democracy we practice and the observance of fundamental human rights in the system give him absolute freedom to open his mouth and emit all kind of rubbish against all kind of people, especially the leaders, without any challenge.
In fact, he has been on the street since the last campaign period, like a vagabond, insulting, attacking and destroying first, anything that has to do with Muhammadu Buhari who later floored his party’s candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to become Nigeria’s President.
He it was who, like a typical motor park tout, not only called Buhari all sort of names, including death wish, but frightened a hell out of the people around Buhari with threat of physical combat, even if on the street.
Many people, including yours sincerely, who was familiar with the dirty manner in which campaigns are carried out in some parts of Africa, excused Fayose on that basis: that he was one of those who belonged to the dirtiest part of the political games in Nigeria. He really is!
After all, if a full grown man, like Fayose would spare nothing to openly insult a national leader and one of the leading statesmen in Nigeria today, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, pray, who would he spare?
Of course, Fayose can go on insulting and even physically fighting people he believes have all the time in this world to go into motor park with him, but his recent display of ignorance as to how government works even as he himself is running a small portion of it in Ekiti state smacks of a man whose soul has been seized by evil forces or the devils.
Fayose, still rolling in absolute ignorance and drunkenness (of ogogoro), asked President Buhari to probe people like Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC) before he thinks of probing former President Jonathan and members of his team.
Of course, for lack of good stories nowadays, many media organizations gave him their precious space, with even some of them making such pathological ignorance prominence.
But, just as a tip of an ice barge, a permanent secretary in the federal ministry of Transport, Alhaji Mohammed Bashari just, yesterday, August 10, opened a can of worms: of how the Goodluck Jonathan government obtained a foreign loan of $1.005 Billion (over N200 Billion) for the construction or rehabilitation of rail line from Lagos to Kano ended up elsewhere. They referred to it diplomatically as “diversion.”
The permanent secretary, who presented the score-card of the ministry (that was obviously used as one of the numerous platforms, ala NNPC, to milk Nigeria, mainly to fund the ill-fated Jonathan Presidential campaign), said that what remained of the whooping over N200 Billion in the custody of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s ministry of finance’s fat cow, is a pitiful $400 Million (less than N 80 Billion).
Now, the question for Fayose: would he still ignorantly ask President Buhari to first probe somebody like Ahmed Tinubu before going ahead to probe this glaring rape and robbery of the Nigeria’s collective patrimony? Is Fayose and his fellow travellers in ignoramus saying that Buhari should first probe Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha, etc on how they acquired the jets that conveyed him (Buhari, for the Presidential campaign) before he now goes ahead to look into how the NNPC finances were plundered with impunity?
As a matter of fact, people with good conscience would openly shed tears when the full story of how the political and economic parasites around former President Jonathan stole the nation blind, I dare say, including Fayose himself, who benefited from the billion of naira and dollars dished out to favourable PDP “leaders” to distribute to selected traditional rulers, religious leaders, youth leaders, women leaders and all manner of scavengers that brought the nation’s economy to its knee.
If anything, this is the time people like Fayose should keep his leaking, drunken and motor-park mouth shut and pray, so that his tracks would be covered by the devil he serves. This is the time Fayose should pretend even if pretension, that he is a civilized person; that he has slightly improved from his days of motor touting, motor park brawls and shouting to block the ears of the next door neighbours.
Whoever foisted Fayose on the good people of Ekiti must have done a great disservice them, and caused them not only eternal shame but serious havoc; psychologically, politically, economically, socially, ideologically, pathologically, mathologically and so on and so forth.
After all, Fayose ought to have been co-habiting with his likes in the Ekiti jungle and not Ekiti town, much more, Ekiti government House.
What an unfortunate situation! [myad]

Esan Media Practitioners Rally Community Leaders To Work For Unity, Development

Adams Oshiomhole
Media practitioners of the Esan extraction in Edo state, under the canopy of Esan Journalists Forum (EJF), have appealed to leaders and well meaning citizens of the various towns and villages from the area to rise up and work for the peace, unity and progress of the area.
The media practitioners from Esanland which falls within the Edo State Central Senatorial Zone, made the appeal in a statement signed by the national President, Mr. Timothy Okojie-Ave.
It called on the leaders of the zone to begin to speak with one voice, stressing that this is the only way Esanland would attain a better position in Edo state and the country as a whole.
Esan Land, the statement further said, is one that is seriously yearning for progress and development; and that it is time for well-meaning sons and daughters of the area “to roll up their sleeves and be ready to join hands to build a zone that would become the pride of Edo State and Nigeria in no distant time.”
The Forum noted that the zone had been long neglected in spite of the many contributions of her sons to the development of the country.
“For example, we all know that it was Chief Anthony Enahoro, a son of the zone, that moved the much celebrated motion for Nigeria’s independence.
“We are also conversant with the political sophistication and contributions of the Esan people. We are hardworking, lovers of peaceful co-existence and very rich in culture and tradition.
“Beyond this, Esan Land is blessed with various resources that can be effectively tapped to make the zone become a major destination for people across the various states of the country and even the world at large.”
The Forum further appealed to the people across the country and in the Diaspora to support the course of making the zone a major focal point of progress for others to emulate. [myad]

Hillary Clinton Accuses Republicans Of Hate Campaigns Against Women

hillary clinton

Democratic White House frontrunner for the November 2016 election in the United States of America, Hillary Clinton has accused the Republicans of mounting campaigns against the interests of women, even as she also accused her former supporter, Donald Trump of what she called “a crude verbal assault on a female journalist.”

She said that the stances of the Republicans on women’s rights and health care could set back the cause for women’s equality in America, adding: “what the rest of the Republicans are saying about women is outrageous.”

Clinton further accused the Republicans of waging a war on women, adding: “they brag about slashing women’s health care funding. They say they would force women who have been raped to carry their rapist’s child.

“We don’t hear any of them supporting raising the minimum wage, paid leave for new parents, equal pay for women, or anything else that will help to give women a chance to get ahead.” [myad]

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