deadZONE:

oboy hear money N3.29bn
am resigning after this month
i wan join yahoo them.

It will be recalled that the suspect had earlier been arrested and prosecuted by EFCC for claiming to be an Assistant Commissioner of Police seconded by the Commission to the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, NTDC, to cleanse the rot in the agency.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 arrested a suspected serial fraudster, Dr. Kunle Adeshola, who issued a forged draft to the tune of N3.29billion, in a phony land deal.


The suspect, who presented himself as Director, Corporate and Management Service, Amazon Inc., had allegedly entered a contract with Atkan Services Nigeria Limited for the purchase of 50 units of flats in different locations within the FCT, Abuja and subsequently presented a Deutsche Bank, "bank draft" no 081758 in the sum of $19.930, 900.00 purportedly drawn by Deutsche Bank in favour of Infinity Trust Savings and Loans Limited.

But the draft was returned unpaid after Stanbic IBTC Plc, discovered it was forged and reported the fraud to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The apex bank consequently reported the matter to the EFCC.

It will be recalled that the suspect had earlier been arrested and prosecuted by EFCC for claiming to be an Assistant Commissioner of Police seconded by the Commission to the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, NTDC, to cleanse the rot in the agency.

Adeshola, who had claimed to be Head of the EFCC Chairman's Monitoring Unit was charged to court on a seven-count bordering on forgery, impersonation, and obtaining by false pretence before Justice Usaini Baba Yusuf of the FCT High Court, Abuja.

Justice Yusuf, however, struck out the charges on the grounds that they were not related to financial crimes, a ruling that has since been challenged at the appellate court by the EFCC.

EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said the suspect will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) national leader and former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu, has described his successor and immediate past governor of the state, Babatunde Fashola, as a governor whose rugged intellect to public service differentiated him from his peers while he was in office.

Former Lagos state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola
Former Lagos state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola
Mr Tinubu, who was represented by Prof. Samuel in his message wished Mr Fashola succesful future political career.

“Fashola acquired a lot of apprenticeship in a wired political engineering and this further helped his actions while in office. I am happy that your ruggedness in office has shown Lagosians and Nigerians that Asiwaju took a very good decision when he made you his Chief of Staff and later two time Governor of Lagos state. We are happy about your success in office and we believe the sky is your limit” he was quoted by Vanguard newspaper.

The three books launched yesterday were The Great Leap; In Bold Print and The Lagos Blow Down.



While the leaders of the APC stayed away from the event, seasoned professionals from different sectors of the economy attended the launch with erstwhile chairman of Guaranty Trust Bank, Mr. Fola Adeola, as chairman of the occasion.

Mr Adeola who was full of praise of the former governor said the people gathered at the launch are the true friends of Mr Fashola.

“I believe everybody that came here today considers Fashola as a friend, brother, cousin, so I greet everyone and welcome them. I will also say some people are here just because they are brave and not afraid. The people who are here today are simply telling him that no matter what, they still remain his friend.

“I can tell you that with some faces I have seen here, I think I am fine. At least I can see Palace representatives and majority of our old friends, so for me, it will be a day to remember. I am so happy to be alive in my time that Governor Fashola happened and my prayer is that we will not wait for too long for another Fashola to happen.



“I was in Benin and somebody was talking about Lagos State and Fashola, I was surprised and wondered where they knew him from. Also, in Kano State during Governor Kwankwanso’s tenure, a young man was saying his governor is trying to replicate what Fashola is doing in Lagos in the state. So in my dictionary, Fashola represents every good thing,” he stated.

The notable political players from the state present were immediate political associates of the former governor, former governorship aspirant, Mr. Supo Sashore, former deputy Governor, Alhaja Lateefat Okunnu, former commissioner for finance in Lagos State, Mr. Wale Edun, Senator Munirudeen Muse, Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Funmilayo Atilade and Mr. Joe Igbokwe, the spokesman of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Fashola, in his remarks said his accomplishments are not complete without people and took time to praise his media aide, Mr Hakeem Bello, who he said painstakingly documented the three books being launched

“I think it will be wrong for anyone to believe today belongs to me but it is not. It belongs to Hakeem Bello, who painstakingly documented these three books. It also belongs to Dapo Adeniyi, who worked with him. And to all those who joined us in this event, what you have done is to join us in celebrating Hakeem Bello, a gentleman, family man whose passion for his work epitomises his fidelity in what he believes in.

“We need to know that there are people who started this journey before me especially my predecessor in office, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. There are also men and women who served with me while I was n office for eight years. So, those achievements would not have been possible without these people who served with me who also include judges in this state” he said.

Commercial sex workers on Tuesday set some structures at the Amansea Cattle Market, Awka, Anambra State ablaze in protest against the demolition of their brothels by the state government.
The Anambra State Urban Development Board had same day demolished the brothel located within the cattle market on grounds that the makeshift structures were harbouring kidnappers and other hoodlums.
The General Manager of the board, Chinedu Enemmuo, who led the operation, said the exercise was part of Governor Willie Obiano’s resolve to rid the state of all kinds of crimes and vices.
Enemmuo maintained that the structures demolished were illegal buildings where commercial sex workers, kidnappers and armed robbers resided.

He denied the allegation of bias in the demolition, adding that it would be extended to Nnewi, Onitsha and other cities after the expiration of a three-week notice as done in the Awka instance.
“The structures that were not demolished are those of cattle dealers and canteens,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that no sooner was the operation carried than the visibly angry commercial sex workers mobilised and set the remaining structures in the market ablaze.
One of the sex workers, who simply gave her name as Rachael, accused the government officials of bias.
Rachael said: “They are very wicked and inhuman.
“How can they destroy our houses without notice, leaving behind some kiosks and canteens that belong to cattle traders?”

A Vietnam court, Monday, converted a death sentence previously handed to a 33-year-old Nigerian, Ejiogu Benjamin Ikechukwu, for bringing methamphetamine into Vietnam, to life imprisonment.

The accused was apprehended in June 2012 with 3.3 kilograms of methamphetamine, which had been banned. It was concealed in metal tubes and a laptop charger in his luggage as he flew to Tan Son Nhat in Vietnam.

When he was arrested, Ejiogu said he had no idea about the drug in his luggage.


“I only planned to come to Vietnam to buy clothes to resell them in Nigeria,” he said.

According to him, a man asked him to carry the tubes and the charger to Vietnam and that someone would pick them up.

A case and charges, however, were proffered against him by Vietnam police in August 2013.

According to Vietnam law, anyone convicted of smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in Vietnam, faces the death penalty.


Vietnam Supreme Court, which ruled over the case, sentenced him to death, but he appealed the verdict.

The court then canceled the verdict, ordering a new investigation.

Investigators are still on the lookout, but haven’t been able to track down the people who had used him as a drug mule, according to his statement.

Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has explained why the Igbos are most likely to break away from Nigeria in no distant future.

The former director of publicity, Peoples Democratic Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO), who made his statement on Monday, carpeted Dr Junaid Mohammed, convener of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, for saying that president Muhammadu Buhari owes Igbos nothing.

According to Vanguard, FFK, as the politician is fondly called, described Dr Junaid’s comments as most insensitive, cruel and puerile, adding that the statement, asking the Igbos to break away if they felt marginalised, was most uncharitable and careless, warning that if there was any attempt to butcher the Ibos or a repeat of what happened in 1966, it would be resisted by not only the Ibos, but by all Nigerians.

While reacting to a statement titled, ‘if the igbo feel marginalised, they should attempt to break away again’, Fani- Kayode said: “given the immense suffering that the igbo were subjected to both before, during and after the civil war this is one of most insensitive, cruel and puerile comments that I have heard in recent times.

“I daresay that if Junaid Mohammed’s Nigeria ever butchers over 100,000 innocent igbo civilians again, as they did in the north in 1966 just before the civil war, there will indeed be another attempt to secede, but this time it will not only be successful, but they will also take many others with them.

“Rather than boast and beat our chests, we must learn from our history and we must never repeat its mistakes.”

Junaid had in an interview with a national daily, noted that people of the Igbo nation have enjoyed favourable treatment, explaining vehemently that it was wrong to reward the Igbos simply on the basis of the Nigerian Civil War, which lasted between 1967 and 1970.

“If it is about Buhari making the appointments based on merit, I have no problems with it. I don’t believe Buhari or Nigeria owes any Igbo anything. I don’t care what Ezeife says; if they had seceded, there would have been no Nigeria today. As people who acted outside the interest of Nigeria as a country, to expect compensation is a very odd logic.

“If the Igbo don’t like it, they can attempt secession again. If they do, they must be prepared to live with the consequences. Nobody owes them anything and nobody is out to compensate them for anything,” he was quoted to have said.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart was recently enmeshed in a paternity scandal, where he was said to have disowned the children born t him by his ex-wife.

A 45-year-old man, Travis Austin Joy, from Washington, is currently languishing in police custody after he was arrested for having sex with three dogs and a horse.

Travis’ act was discovered after he relocated from his home but forgot his video camera which was later discovered by his old roommate while cleaning and after viewing the content immediately alerted the police leading to his arrest.

The Mirror reports that Travis was apprehended on Wednesday after the seven videos on the device showed him engaging in sexual acts with various animals from around the neighbourhood.

Reacting to the incident, the Spokane County Sheriff’s office stated that Travis, a three-time convicted felon recorded the seven videos which showed him having sex with three different dogs and a horse between October 2012 and February 2014.

He was charged with seven counts of animal cruelty, one for each video and an additional two counts of harassment for making death threats against the people who reported him.

The owner of one of the dogs that was a victim to Joy’s sick habit, called police to report they had seen the disturbed individual at their home, and deputies then went to Joy’s residence and arrested him. After taking him into custody, sheriffs said that Joy admitted to making the videos so that he could watch them later without having to repeat the disgusting acts again.

Reports reaching DAILY POST say the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, may be reeling under monumental fraud, running into billions of naira.

This, inside sources say has attracted the searchlight of the anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, following instances of fraud worth over N2bn that were said to have been perpetrated by the ITF Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Ms Juliet Chukka-Onaeko.

Ms Chukka-Onaeko, who assumed leadership of the agency on May 19, 2014, was said to have been interrogated twice by the anti-graft agency within the last two weeks.

Aside being quizzed for “blowing N700 million in the name of media and publicity so far into her tenure without the knowledge of members of the Public Affairs Department,” she was grilled last Friday for allegedly spending a whooping N250 million in renovating the Abuja Corporate Office of ITF.

However, the Head of Public Affairs in the Abuja Corporate Office of the agency, Mr. Desmond Osokpor, denied knowledge of the visit of EFCC operatives, stressing that “We have been here since morning; I did not see anybody come here neither was I invited to meet with anybody”.

But his position contradicts that of the Media Aide to the ITF DG, Meshach Idehen, who reacted to whether the security operatives were in their office same day thus: “Of course, the EFCC was here just like they were at every other government agency within the country. And I can categorically tell you that it was a routine visit in line with the policy thrust of the present government to use government institutions to beam its searchlight on agencies.”

However, inside sources, who begged not to be named, told DAILY POST that last Friday’s visit of EFCC operatives to the Abuja Corporate Office of the agency was to ascertain how N250 million came to be used in renovating the office and “to also see for themselves the level of renovation done to have gulped N250 million”.

One of the sources disclosed that before the Friday (August 14) visit to the ITF House in Abuja, operatives of the EFCC had about two weeks ago, stormed the ITF Headquarters in Jos, the Plateau State capital, where “they interrogated Ms Onaekko over contract awards and alleged irregularities in payment running into over N2 billion”.

The inside source also revealed that other senior staff members interrogated in Jos included the Directors of Procurement, Dickson Onuoha; Finance, Yomi Osobo and Field Services, John Enyi. It was also gathered that the EFCC team had questions for some top members of the Senior Staff Association of Transport and Communication, SSATAC, as well as those of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Employees, AUPCTRE.

According to the source, “EFCC also raised eyebrows over the DG’s breach of procurement regulations and award of contracts to her own cronies in the name of consultants. She was questioned for using her companies- Kabsco Logistics Ltd and Minds and Lines Ltd to get contracts from ITF.

“One of the issues that came up was her appropriation of N700 million for media and publicity without the knowledge of staff members of the Public Affairs Department. These monies were paid directly into her private account {account number withheld} which is in breach of extant ITF laws which forbids payment of amount even far less than that into a private account.

“She has a limit of the money she can approve and there are some amounts which the board must sit before such can be disbursed,” our source said.

Reacting to these claims, Ms Chukka-Onaekko’s Media Aide, Mr. Idehen, insisted that “to the best of my knowledge, I can assure you that there is no iota of truth in the allegation that such amount was spent on any form of renovation in this building (ITF House Abuja) or any other ITF building that I am aware of.”

When asked if the building was renovated and what was spent on the renovation, he said: “Of course, when the DG moved in, there was need to carry out some renovation which was done to the satisfaction of all stakeholders. But, there is no iota of truth in this allegation.

“I am an intermediary but will need to relate with the appropriate people to be able to give you the exact information,” he added.

For the Abuja Corporate Office, Head of ITF Public Affairs, Mr. Osokpor, who also noted that there was a limit to what he can say of the allegations, clarified that the ITF Head of Public Affairs who operates from the Headquarters in Jos was in a better position to give categorical answers to the clarifications sought by DAILY POST.

But when asked if he had any knowledge of renovations being carried out on the Abuja office of ITF, he said: “I just came here on transfer. Not like I’ve been here. I have been in Lagos. I resumed here in June.”

Our correspondent tried to get official clarifications from the EFCC spokesman, WiIson Uwajuren, who promised to check and report back but was yet to do as at the time of writing this report.

Meanwhile, the investigation continues.

A group within the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Action Forum, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Director-General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mrs. Roli Bode-George.

A statement signed by its Secretary, Okikiola Basorun, said Mrs Bode-George took undue advantage of her position as the boss of the anti-drug agency by compromising and engaging officials of the agency in partisan politics.

The group, which said her appointment was one of the flawed one made by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, noted that “shortly after her appointment, Mrs Bode-George deployed NDLEA officials to Ekiti to participate in the June 21 governorship election. Truckloads of NDLEA officials were seen parading the streets of Ekiti in broad daylight a day before the elections”.



The statement continued that “The law establishing the NDLEA does not empower them to participate as security operatives during elections. But to our chagrin, Mrs Bode- George shortly after her appointment deployed officers of the NDLEA to Ekiti state, thereby engaging an agency hitherto known to be neutral and non- partisan in electioneering matters.

“We also wish to state that she is not worthy of that position. That slot, belonging to Lagos State was given to her husband by the federal government. But instead of handing it to one of his supporters who were working tirelessly for the PDP in Lagos, he chose to hand it over to his wife, who already was a member of the National Population Commission”.

PDP Action Forum commended President Buhari for terminating the appointment of the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Alhaji Sanusi Ado Bayero and reinstating Habibu Abdullahi, appealing that same action be taken against Mrs Bode-George.

kokoA:
Success has many relatives but failure is an orphan.

A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Saturday, disclosed that former President, Goodluck Jonathan could not stop his sack because he was afraid of governors elected on the platform of the PDP.

Tukur sated this on Kaduna based Liberty Radio programme, ‘Guest of the Week,’ pointing out that certain people in the party didn’t want him to practice internal democracy that he was preaching which led to his removal.

Though he exonerated Jonathan of any complicity in his removal, Tukur said, “Jonathan did not insist I leave the party, there are people in the PDP who felt I should not practice what I preach because discipline is very important. Following the laws you established is very important. When you don’t, then you have problems.


“President Jonathan could not protect me due to the powers of the governor. The governors are very powerful and therefore, if you do not do what they want, you are done away with and I believe nothing can be done to them.


”I was accused of being a virus in PDP and I did not deny it; I told them I am a virus for good governance, virus for internal democracy, virus for equity and justice. I hope that ‎virus will continue,” he said.

The former party boss equally blamed the party’s defeat at the 2015 general election to its inability to deliver on promises, pointing out that the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the centre was a desire for an alternative to a failed party.

He said: “Democracy is government of the people by the people for the people. So, if the PDP fails to deliver on its promises, people will go to the alternative. Change is always good, provided it is going to bring better alternative.”


According to him, APC allowed the democratic system to prevail by allowing the people choose their leaders through elections.

Tukur also commended the leadership style of President Muhammadu Buhari and asked Nigerians to allow the president as he leads the nation at his calculated pace.

“I salute Muhammadu Buhari because he has integrity. He believes in discipline, he believes in fighting corruption and believes in good governance because the only way we can go forward and be respected in the comity of nations is by coming together and carrying our people along,” he said.

The crisis between two ex-governors of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mr Babatunde Fashola deepened on Friday with reports that loyalists of both gladiators have drawn up battle plans, even as stakeholders in both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Lagos State are said to have waded in, calling for a truce.
A former member of the Lagos State Executive Council who did not want to be named, told Saturday Tribune on Friday that “some elders are planning a peace meeting between the duo.”
Investigations revealed that forces loyal to Tinubu felt incensed by the statement issued by Fashola on Thursday in which he insinuated that corruption allegations were being pinned on him by those opposed to his getting a federal appointment, a veiled reference to Tinubu and the incumbent governor, Akinwumi Ambode.
“The coming days will be interesting,” an aide to a chieftain of the APC close to both leaders told Saturday Tribune on Friday.
While the Tinubu camp is said to have vowed to fight on, “ to teach the former governor a lesson,” the Fashola side of the divide, according to a source, “is determined to ensure that his integrity is not tainted by those who are jealous of his ascendancy in the polity.”
Both sides, however, on Friday refrained from taking direct shots at each other. Tinubu’s spokesman, Mr Sunday Dare told Saturday Tribune when contacted by phone on Friday afternoon that he had just arrived in the country and would need time to get briefings from his boss before reacting to the statement from Fashola while Ambode’s Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna did not answer repeated calls made to his telephone line.
Dare later sent a text message at 6:30pm that he would call back soon. He did not.
However, an aide of Ambode who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Saturday Tribune that it was too simplistic for anybody to think that the government, headed by Ambode, was behind the ongoing corruption charge campaign against former Governor Fashola in order to rubbish his record of achievements while in office for eight years.
“Ambode is not interested in the smear campaign against Fashola, it is a non- issue. It is too simplistic to suggest that, it is left for people to find out who is doing this. I can tell you that government is not involved. It is not possible for government to have a hand in that.
“The governor is a pragmatic person and ready to move on by restructuring the state,” the close source said.
Fashola is currently in the eye of the storm as a group, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), has dragged him before the anti- graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), calling for his investigation on an alleged scam over a contract for the upgrade of his personal website at a cost of N78million.
The former governor, has, however, set the record straight, declaring that the state government, through the procurement office, did not disclose the details of the website upgrade to include some other aspects making up the entire contracts sum.
Fashola, who denied having children outside wedlock apart from the three he adopted following the DANA plane crash, also denied involvement in the National Assembly crisis, saying that he only landed in the country on the day of the crisis.
This is as Saturday Tribune learnt that Fashola, who served for eight years as governor, might have incurred the wrath of a lot of people within the APC and outside it, some of who felt he was “too arrogant” and now wanted to take their own pound of flesh.
Other sources said Tinubu is determined to block the chances of Fashola from becoming a minister in the yet- to- be formed cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari due to his alleged “new found independence.”
This, according to a source, might have prompted Fashola to declare in his published statement that he was not looking for a job, stressing that “For those who still wish to remain in the mud, they should look in the mirror. For those who wish to throw mud at me, they should look at their own hands. As for me, I have moved on. My job is done,” even as he threw a broadside at his opponents that, “When you wrestle with a pig, the pig gets happy and you get dirty.”
Another source even disclosed that “Tinubu’s supporters could even be the ones fighting back because of the perceived ill- treatment Tinubu suffered at the hands of Fashola while he was governor of the state.”

rawpadgin:
that one was created for consumption only

A Nigerian citizen accused of receiving weapons training from al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate and writing rap lyrics, among other contributions, for the group’s English-language media operations was sentenced on Wednesday to 22 years in US prison, authorities said.
Reuters reports that Lawal Babafemi, 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn after pleading guilty in April 2014 to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Prosecutors had sought up to 30 years in prison for Babafemi, who was extradited from Nigeria in 2013 after being arrested several times two years earlier on local terrorism charges.
Babafemi’s court-appointed lawyer in Brooklyn was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors said that from January 2010 to August 2011, Babafemi travelled from Nigeria to Yemen twice to meet with leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP.
During his time with that group, Babafemi, who went by the name “Ayatollah Mustapha,” worked on AQAP’s media operations, including its magazine “Inspire,” prosecutors said.
He and two other individuals including a Vietnamese man named Minh Quang Pham contributed writing and editing, prosecutors said, and Babafemi became close with Samir Khan, a U.S. citizen who was Inspire’s editor.
Together, the men appeared in the magazine in a photograph, wearing camouflage and holding rifles, authorities say.
After Khan and Pham had the idea of recording rap songs as AQAP propaganda, Babafemi began writing lyrics about jihad, prosecutors said.
The group’s leadership, including Anwar al-Awlaki, paid Babafemi almost $9,000 to recruit English speakers from Nigeria, prosecutors said.
Khan and Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico, were killed in U.S. drone strikes in Yemen in 2011. Pham was extradited to the United States in March and is awaiting trial.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the distractions being orchestrated by certain elements in the polity will not deter the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari from its avowed determination to rescue Nigeria from the clutches of those who are holding the country by the jugular.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the people, including fringe elements, who had frenetically engaged in fault finding with the Buhari administration, were those who either had skeletons in their cupboards or those who were acting at their behest, for a fee.

“These paranoid and skittish people daily run to the media to disparage the Buhari Administration. Grasping at their straws, they condemn and criticize everything from appointments to the war against corruption and the battle against insecurity, even though the party to which they belong had 16 years to make things right for Nigeria but chose to suck the country dry, enthrone insecurity and pauperize the citizenry.

“Their design is simple: Make enough incoherent noise in the media with the hope that the administration will be distracted. Unfortunately for them, they have failed in their evil machination, because this President can neither be deterred nor be distracted. While their dogs continue to bark, the caravan of the Buhari Administration proceeds on its steadfast journey,” it said.

APC said while a virile opposition is indispensable in any democracy that is worth its salt, no opposition can succeed by dwelling on the mundane or engaging in bare-faced lies, adding that only good research, strict adherence to the truth and a focus on real issues rather than frivolities can make the opposition relevant.

It wondered how the APC-led Federal Government can be blamed for the blatant refusal of the last administration to adequately equip the military to confront the Boko Haram insurgency, when even an appointee of the administration told the whole world that he was the head of a military that lacked the relevant equipment and motivation to fight an insurgency

“What achievement is there for anyone to appropriate from an administration that will go down in history as the most rapacious, incompetent and clueless in the history of our nation?” it queried.

APC said in less than three months of its existence, the Buhari administration has started off on a strong footing in many areas, including the fight against insurgency, the battle against corruption, the reorganization of the oil sector that was the private piggy bank of the last Administration, the bailout of many states that could not pay the salaries of their workers, the revival of the Nigerian dream, the resetting of Nigeria’s diplomatic relations with the rest of the global community and the overdue clean-up of the Niger Delta region, which was shockingly ignored by a President from that region.

“With its sure-footed efforts in all the listed areas already attracting national and international acclaim, does it not beggar belief that the same Buhari Administration will be accused by the apologists of the failed regime of appropriating their dubious achievements?” the party said.

A former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, has faulted his kinsman former President Olusegun Obasanjo for his continuous attacks on people.

Osoba said this during an interview with newsmen in Lagos at the weekend.

He said this in reaction to Obasanjo’s claim that Chief Obafemi Awolowo was never the leader of the Yoruba but was only elected leader by his supporters.


He said, “I would not like to judge Chief Obasanjo because as I am trying to put the facts straight, I don’t want to join him in condemnation of individuals. I respect him for his own strong points and weaknesses. But one thing I disagree with him is his condemnation of virtually everybody and even those around him.

“Wole Soyinka is not good, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is not good, Atiku Abubakar is not good, Reuben Aabati is useless, Doyin Okupe is not to be associated with. Who then is good?”

He said even the dead were not spared of unfair criticism by Obasanjo, noting that even MKO Abiola, who gave his life for democracy, did not escape Obasanjo’s criticism.


He said this was unfortunate because without Abiola, Obasanjo would never have emerged President.


He said, “Whether he likes it or not, MKO Abiola will forever be the symbol and hero of modern day democracy in Nigeria. When Abiola couldn’t negotiate his freedom by signing away his mandate to General Sani Abacha, he laid down his life and I expect Chief Obasanjo to understand the fact that he became a beneficiary and should see Abiola as a hero.

“Nobody can claim to be the only hero in any society. Society is a team. Within our Egba community, the Ransome-Kutis are heroes. Their mother was an activist, Fela was an acitivist, Beko Ransome-Kuti was an activist. Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti took his father’s nature. He was a gentleman but was also an activist with his philosophy of primary healthcare.

“Wole Soyinka is a hero, Ebenezer Obey is a hero; he recorded over 50 records and delivered philosophical lyrics. Akintola Williams, an Egba man, is the first accountant and is still worshipped today. Society is the totality of a team. A tree can never make a forest and that is where I disagree with Chief Obasanjo. To reduce Soyinka to a wine connoisseur hurts me.”

Osoba, while describing Obasanjo’s book, ‘My Watch’, as a distortion of history, said Awolowo was unanimously elected as the leader of the Yoruba in 1966 shortly before the civil war.