Monday 25 January 2016

How I make N300,000 monthly begging in Lagos – Drug Suspect

The Suspects
A suspected drug addict arrested by the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Command has disclosed that he made over N300, 000 monthly from begging in Ikeja.
Kehinde Olatubosun, 56, from Ibadan, Oyo State, was arrested on Saturday night along with 18 other drug addicts at a joint in Ipodo, Ikeja.
A team of Rapid Response Squad Decoy had on Monday night traced a stolen phone to the joint, leading to the arrest of a three-man gang mobile phone thieves, three hard drug peddlers and 13 drug addicts, the police said in a statement on Sunday.
Mr. Olatubosun stated that he made over N10, 000 daily begging at the Mobolaji Bank Anthony Roundabout; beside the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital; Toyin Street; and Opebi.
“All days of the week, I’m always in Mobolaji Bank Anthony Roundabout, Toyin Street roundabout and Opebi. At times, I collaborate with beggars. Whatever we make, we share but I get a larger share,” said the suspect.
“What I do is that, I get LASUTH drug prescription papers. I get it from their waste bin. With this in my hand, I convince motorists, passengers and passersby that I have a relative who is in dire need of money to buy drugs and I show them the prescription papers.
“This is what I have been doing since I was deported from Germany in 2004. Before the deportation, I was working as Electrical Engineer in Bauhusa, Colon, Germany. I was in Germany for 12 years before I was deported.”
Mr. Olatubosun‎ said his deportation from Germany was after he was caught in possession of hard drugs.
“I have four children. Two are in Germany with my wife. One is in Texas, United States and another in Nigeria,” he said.
“Unfortunately, all the money I make from this begging goes into drugs. Day after day, I am always there, seven days a week. I make more money on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I make more than N10,000:00 on weekends.
“As I speak to you, I’m not on drugs but I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms, that is, the effect of not taking drugs for sometimes.”
The suspect said he was at the Ipodo drug joint when the RRS operatives raided the place and added that it was the first time he would be arrested.
“I am praying that RRS release me. I promise I won’t go back to drug again. Where I live presently was given to me by my in-law.”
Another drug suspect, Dada Ajayi, arrested at the drug joint during the police raid, said that addiction had destroyed his life.
“‎I am trying to get over it now; drug has been the cause of my stagnation in life,” said Mr. Ajayi, 48, who said he had been hooked on drugs for over 17 years.
“‎I frequent that joint because I have nowhere to go. I have lived the better part of my life consuming drugs.
“As I talk to you, the remains of my wife is in Ikeja mortuary. She was taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja. I was asked to bring N150,000 for surgery but I didn’t have N50,000 on me then. She died in the process.
“Right now, I have lost my family because of my drug addiction. I don’t know where my children are or how to start my life again. I can’t stop going to that drug joint because it is the only place where I get consolation. It is the only place I’m at peace with myself.
“If anybody want to help us, they should arrest the drug barons or dealers. Arresting us won’t solve drug problem because without the sellers there won’t be the takers.
“You arrest the dealers, I mean the merchants, then, you have cut the supply and thus saved us from getting drugs. Without that, we would always find our ways there whenever we are released.”
SOURCE: Premiumtimesng

How President Buhari is hurting Nigeria’s electoral process

Perhaps, because the more  vocal sector of Nigeria’s civil society has been co-opted into the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, Federal Government, there is a creeping danger into Nigeria’s electoral system as President  Muhammad Buhari has serially  refused to obey the provisions of the 1999 Constitution regarding the composition of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the same body that was reformed and structured to deliver an election that ironically brought him to power.  
In the latest in a long series by Sunday Vanguard, it has been discovered that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, for Kogi State, appointed on December 16, 2010,  and whose  tenure should have ended on December 16, 2015, is still sitting  pretty in office.   Either because of an oversight, or a deliberate base appeal to  primal and  ethane-religious considerations, or both, Hussaini Halilu Pai, is still in office over 39 days after the expiration of his tenure. This, at a time when  the statutory 13-member Commission is not in place, leading to half-baked and sometimes confusing policy statements from INEC.   This report will show the danger in what President Buhari is doing and why men and women of goodwill must guide him appropriately before Nigeria’s electoral system (of which he is a major beneficiary) is sent to the dogs.
Hussaini Halilu Pai, appointed December 16, 2010, and was expected to have finished his tenure by December 16, 2015, is still in office as Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, for Kogi State.   Mind you, that was the state where the controversial governorship election produced an outcome that has confounded even the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.   He hails from the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.   Vanguard’s Boluwaji Obahopo, correspondent in Kogi State, upon inquiry from Kogi State office of INEC last Friday,  confirmed authoritatively that Halilu Pai was still in office operating as REC for Kogi State.
Two others, Dr. Kwanga Godwin M., from Benue State, and Mr. Akinyemi Orebiyi, from Ogun State, who were also appointed on the  same date of December 16, 2010, have since left the employ of INEC and moved on.
The question is, why is President  Muhammad  Buhari still keeping Hallilu Pai in office some 39days since the  expiration of his tenure?
Perhaps, it is traditional with the emerging realities of the modus operandi of Mr. President in his appreciation of the fundamentality of the electoral process as a critical bastion of democracy which is expected to lead to good governance.
But as was the case with Madam Amina Zakari, so it is now with Pai today.   Another question is, what infraction would President Buhari come up with again, in this macabre appreciation of the real essence of obedience to rule of law?
Many and not a few stakeholders in the politically effervescent Kogi State are wondering – particularly INEC staff – that what started in the national headquarters of INEC Abuja where an “acting Chairman” of INEC was unconstitutionally imposed and continued illegally in office even when her tenure ended on the July 21, 2015, and the National Assembly kept quiet, has now been extended to Kogi State that now has an “acting Rec” on account of the unofficial extension of the Kogi State REC’s tenure, perhaps earned, according to stakeholders, from events arising from the recent inconclusive elections in the state.
This special REC, whose conditions for appointment to the office, as clearly indicated in the Constitution, requires clearly defined consecutive steps beginning at the National Council of State and Senate approval. Consequently, not a few tongues have been kept wagging in speculative anxiety over how the political appointee earned the special treatment and the very first of its kind. Inside sources at the INEC headquarters confirmed that the REC had written a hand-over note just as the then “acting chairperson” also claimed that she was not aware of anything as she was driving home when she received a call to continue in office without due process.
No doubt, the failure of Nigerians to rise up against the first unconstitutional retention of a National Commissioner as an “Acting chairperson” of the electoral commission despite the attrition of her tenure of office, has now been taken to the states starting with Kogi.
Insiders in INEC say that what is happening in Kogi with a REC whose tenure had ended but is still staying in office could not have happened under the leadership of Professor Attahiru Jega who could not be ordered by any authority to allow someone whose tenure had ended to remain in office in violation of the five-year tenure.
A senior official of INEC in Abuja revealed further that were it to be under the regime of Jega, a letter of notice would have long been written to the REC to hand-over to the Administrative Secretary but that “right now nobody could be sure of independence of the commission”.
Regrettably, the National Assembly since the inception of this administration, has been silent on the many unconstitutional acts with respect to INEC.
It was pointed out by those who make such allusions that the former “acting Chairperson “ of INEC   Mrs Amina Zakari, worked in legal limbo, because she did not have a constitutionally defined mandate until she was recently re-appointed.
Observers of the electoral arena find such constitutional breaches deeply disturbing because under a very contested political atmosphere, constitutional breaches are grave impeachable offences and can be destabilising for political development. The current government has been plagued by several constitutional missteps regarding INEC, apart from the unguarded removal of an acting   “chairperson” as determined by the autonomous decisions of the Commission, the President then allowed the Commission to function with just seven individulas without the defined constitutional board of 13 members and perpetuated this state of affairs till date, making all actions and decisions of the Commission susceptible to legal challenges.
In the same vein, well over 20 states according to sources in INEC, have no RECs yet to be appointed.
COMPOSITION OF INEC BOARD STILL INCONCLUSIVE
The government’s early constitutional breaches when it had not appointed Attorney General were somewhat attributed to that void but since that office now has a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, as the chief legal officer of the country, how do we explain what is going on now in INEC where seven Nigerians are now running the affairs of a constitutionally provided 13-man board from which a quorum of 5 minimum members can sit to take decisions on election matters.
If section 159 of the constitution   says one third of a full board of 13 – which a Federal High Court had declared to be 5, the question then is, does one third of the current seven INEC commissioners as configured, give us five members?
Therefore, why is it that the AGF is not giving the president an unimpeachable counsel on the implications of such constitutional breaches, particularly in an atmosphere of internal and external political rancour surrounding the APC government.
The APC, which is a merged party with many internal tensions and clear obvious external tension from an opposition party that is struggling to retain its political relevance, cannot afford the luxury of constitutional violations as this is a dangerous weapon in the hands of its opponents.
INEC is one of the areas where the APC government has however continued to portray itself as inelegant in abiding by statutes and regulation.
For instance, it took the spooking reminder of a various editions of Sunday Vanguard and that of a SAN, Barr. Femi Falana, to inform the government that a subsisting court order required INEC to have its full complement of board members in order to legally conduct elections.
However – and embarrassingly so – the government only made minimalist gestures in addressing the matter by appointing an incomplete board to conduct the affairs of the Commission.
And even at that, Sunday Vanguard discovered that there was no proper background check on two of the commissioners in the light of paragraph 14(2) of the constitution.
SOURCE: Vanguardngr

FG Increases Price Of Kerosene To N83 Per Litre

Nigerians queuing for kerosene during a certain period of scarcity. This may reduce in the coming years.
Vanguard reports that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) released its product pricing template on Sunday, January 24, in Abuja.
The agency stated that the N83 per litre price applies only to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). That means that other petrol stations and dealers can sell kerosene higher than the stipulated amount.
It would be noted that the hike in the price of kerosene came at a time when the price of crude oil dropped to record low, with the price of petroleum products dropping significantly in a number of countries.
The PPPRA’s template showed that at N83 per litre, the government will be making a gain of N10.72 on every litre as it puts the expected open market price, which is the landing cost plus total margins at N72.28 per litre. The expected open market price is the prevailing open market rate for the product in Nigeria, after taking certain costs into consideration.
The template put the landing cost of ‎the product at N57.98 per litre, while the total margin was put at N14.30. The retailers’ margin was put at N5 per litre; transporters at N3.05 per litre, and dealers at N1.95 per litre.
It further put the bridging fund at N5.85 per litre; marine transport average at N0.15 and Administrative‎ Charges – N0.15.
According to the PPPRA’s template, the official ex-depot price, which depot owners would sell to marketers, is N68.70 per litre. The official ex-depot price for collection is N73 per litre, while ex-coastal price is N68.02 per litre.

Thursday 21 January 2016

Furor In Anambra APC As Dismissed Senator Ekwunife Seeks Party's Nomination


The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is gripped by grumbling after former Senator Uche Ekwunife ditched her political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defected to the APC, and blanketed the state with her campaign posters seeking nomination to represent the APC in a forthcoming senatorial race.
Ms. Ekwunife contested the 2015 senatorial election on the ticket of the PDP, and was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission. However, on December 7, 2015, a panel of the Court of Appeal in Enugu nullified her election, ruling that her selection as the PDP’s senatorial candidate was irregular. The appellate court ordered INEC to conduct fresh electionswithin 90 days.
In a dramatic move yesterday, Ms. Ekwunife announced her resignation from the PDP. Her campaign then unveiled campaign posters depicting her as seeking nomination to represent the APC in the forthcoming rerun.
“The manner in which Chief Mrs. Uche Ekwunife is trying to buy the APC nomination is a recipe for disaster for the party,” one APC official told SaharaReporters. He described Ms. Ekwunife as “an unprincipled politician who is using everything at her disposal to contest the [senatorial] election as the APC flag bearer now that it is clear that Dr. [Chris] Ngige will not run.”
Another APC member complained that the rusticated senator was using her ties to some APC top shots in Abuja to bulldoze her way to a nomination. “How can she resign from PDP yesterday and by today her [campaign] posters as a so-called APC member are all over the place?” He accused Ms. Ekwunife of spreading false rumors that President Muhammadu Buhari was backing her ambition to be the party’s candidate in the senatorial contest. “Her minions have been claiming that her move to APC has been approved by President Buhari. And that her election will be funded by Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Tambuwal [of Enugu and Sokoto states respectively],” he stated.
A top APC official in Anambra State however allayed the fears of party members who have expressed disenchantment over what he called Ms. Ekwunife’s “political antics.” “I can assure party members and all APC members that President Buhari has nothing to do with this political cesspool of corruption and immorality,” said the official. According to him, “the time for substitution of candidates has since closed under the Electoral Act. So if she’s seeking the ticket of the APC or any other party, she is just wasting her time and money.”
Another party member, a lawyer, echoed the sentiment. He stated that both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court had long decided that a fresh election was only for persons who were qualified to contest the nullified election, and under the same political parties they had contested.
“The courts have held on several occasions that there is no room for substitution of new candidates or introduction of more political parties,” said the lawyer.
A PDP member in Anambra State described Ms. Ekwunife’s defection to the APC as good riddance. “Just a few months ago, this desperado used [former First Lady] Patience Jonathan to hijack the PDP senatorial ticket. She used the influence of Dame Jonathan and Prince Arthur Eze to rig her way to the Senate where she was until the court sacked her. Now, she has gone to fool the APC by dressing like an Alhaja,” he said.
SOURCE: Saharareporters

Monday 18 January 2016

Jonathan was the Idi-Amin of CBN, says Soludo


Charles Soludo, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says former President Goodluck Jonathan ran the apex bank like Idi-Amin Dada of Uganda ran his country. Idi-Amin, who ruled his country between 1971 and 1979, was regarded as a dictator based on his style of governance.
 In an interview in the current business edition of The Interview, the former CBN governor said the bank was “the ATM of the presidency,” under Jonathan.‎ “Imagine a scenario where a president can order the CBN to create an intervention fund for national stability and CBN literally ‘prints’ say, N3 trillion, and doles it out cash to the Presidency to prosecute an election campaign or for just about anything he fancies. It is a scary thought,” he was quoted as saying. “We are going down a dangerous path that ruins the economy. I don’t know any other country where such is tolerated, except perhaps what I watched in a movie about Idi Amin and his governor of central bank.
“Recent revelations regarding the ‘arms-gate’ (short for the $2.1billion scandal involving former NSA Sambo Dasuki) and the apparent abuse of the CBN as ATM by the presidency should get reasonable people thinking.” He said it was regrettable that in spite of the bank’s statutory independence, it continues to be a victim of high-wire politics, often “electrocuting” the bank’s leadership.

SOURCE: thecableng

Friday 15 January 2016

Diversion of arms funds, heartless – Aregbesola

Diversion of arms funds, heartless - Aregbesola
The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has on Friday described the diversion of money meant for procuring arms for Nigeria soldiers to fight insurgency as a monumental scandal.
The Governor stated this at the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day and laying of wreath in honour of fallen Soldiers held at the State House of Assembly in Osogbo.
He commended  the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari in unravelling the crime.
He insisted all the guilty must be brought to justice to forestall future occurrence.
This year’s Armed Forces Remembrance is the first to be held at the State House of Assembly after the cenotaph was constructed next to the parliament.
The Governor stressed that the symbolism of holding the ceremony at the military cemetery is impeccable but bringing it to the parliament is of even greater significance.
Aregbesola added that the Parliament is the symbol of authority of the people and so the fallen soldiers “being celebrated today in the midst of the people for their gallantry and supreme sense of patriotism.”
He noted every well-meaning Nigerian is of the hope that all those involved in the mismanagement of the arms fund will receive full retribution.
Aregbesola lamented the situation where some of the soldiers caught and indicted have been pardoned and some losing their commission while others face uncertain future, said it is pertinent that a fresh inquiry be set up so that justice ‎will be done.
According to him, “It is even a monumental scandal of unimaginable proportion that funds meant for procuring arms for soldiers are shared among members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) without the least compunction.
“I commend the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari in unravelling this heinous crime and I sincerely hope that all those involved will receive full retribution. Some of the soldiers caught in the maelstrom and indicted have been pardoned but some have lost their commission while others face uncertain future.
“Considering the circumstances of this unusual event, it is pertinent that a fresh inquiry be set up so that justice will be given to all those involved and our gallant soldiers will not be punished unjustly.”
On the roles of soldiers in the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections in 2014 which the committee set up by Military has submitted it’s report, Aregbesola said that the deployment of soldiers was avoidable.
“‎The military high command also set up an inquiry into the roles soldiers played in the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections of 2014. The committee has submitted its report and made recommendations.
“As a victim of the reckless deployment of soldiers in those elections, I will say it was an avoidable deployment of soldiers for a civilian duty and for which there was no threat beyond the capability of the police and other security agencies”. The Governor stated.
Aregbesola, not oblivious of the fact that soldiers are trained to obey a command from a superior, described as a dilemma a situation where a soldier fails to carry out instruction.
He added that, for a military command to manipulate an election in favour of a particular candidate and harass opposition candidates and members is unconstitutional and abuse of the military.
‎The Governor said that military high command should address the abuse of soldiers  by insulating them from carrying out unlawful commands so that the military itself will not be subject to abuse by any government in power who might be drunk with the idea that the military is the armed wing of its political party.
SOURCE: thenationonlineng

Céline Dion's Husband René Angélildies of Cancer Of The Throat At 73 years

Céline Dion's Husband René Angélil Has Died 'After a Long and Courageous Battle Against Cancer'| Cancer, Celine Dion, Rene Angelil    Céline Dion's Husband René Angélil Has Died 'After a Long and Courageous Battle Against Cancer'| Cancer, Celine Dion, Rene Angelil


René Angélil, husband of Céline Dion, has died, his rep confirmed exclusively to PEOPLE on Thursday. 

"Rene Angelil, 73, passed away this morning at his home in Las Vegas after a long and courageous battle against cancer," the rep said in a statement. "The family requests that their privacy be respected at the moment." 

Angélil, who guided Dion's career as her manager and mentor, is survived by the couple's three children – René-Charles, 14, and 5-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy – as well as Anne-Marie, Patrick and Jean-Pierre, his adult children from previous marriages. 
"Mr. Angelil, 73, died of throat cancer at his home in Henderson while under the care of a physician," the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner said in a statement to PEOPLE. 

The coroner's office added that Angélil's death was due to natural causes and no further investigation into his death was expected. 

Born in Montreal, Angélil began his career as part of the Canadian pop rock group The Baronets in the 1960s. While the group had a modest number of hits, they eventually broke up and Angélil found success as a music manager.


In 1980, he discovered Dion, then 12, after she submitted a demo tape of a song she had written with her mother. He signed her shortly afterwards, mortgaging his home to pay for her debut album La Voix Du Bon Dieu

Angélil was married twice before he wed his protégée – first to Denyse Duquette from 1966-1972, then to singer Anne Renée from 1974-1980. The music manager tied the knot with Dion in 1994. 
Angélil had battled three bouts of cancer, leading Dion to put her career on hold multiple times to care for her husband's ongoing health issues. Angélil'scancer returned in 2014, following the removal of a tumor in December 2013, after previously being diagnosed with throat cancer in 1999. 

"We have asked [doctors] many times, how long does he have, three weeks, three months? René wants to know," Dion said in a candid interview with USA TODAY in August. "But they say they don't know." 

"I am scared of losing him, because it's bad," she told PEOPLE exclusively in March. "But I have to show myself, my husband and my kids that I'm strong and we're okay." 

The "My Heart Will Go On" singer added that she promised to keep Angélil's dying wish. 

"I'll say, 'You're scared? I understand. Talk to me about it' … And René says to me, 'I want to die in your arms.' Okay, fine, I'll be there, you'll die in my arms." 
And the singer said she would keep a brave face until the end. 

"You can have your shaking knees at the end, but when someone you love falls and needs help, it's not time to cry," she said. "Afterwards, sure. But not yet."