I am not under pressure - Giwa FC's Ogunbote

Despite Giwa FC’s unimpressive start to the season coach Gbenga Ogunbote says he is not under pressure of winning games but pressure of meeting expectations from the management and fans.

Giwa FC coach Gbenga Ogunbote
The former Sunshine Stars and Shooting stars coach said that his present club employed him because of the name and integrity he has created for himself in his managerial career.

“I am not under pressure of winning, but under the pressure of maintaining the name and integrity the management of the club have vested in me and the expectations of the fans,” he said.

Ogunbote’s return to his former club in Ibadan at weekend ended in defeat as his side lost 1 – 2 to Shooting Stars in a week 5 encounter at the Adamsingba stadium.

Although the Jos based side have a game at hand, they are languishing in 16th position with four points from five games having scored four conceding five respectively.

* Article sennt in by Akan Anwankwo

Photos of Dasuki's aide who sued EFCC, army

Dasuki’s special assistant, colonel Nicholas Ashinze currently under detention


Last week a special assistant to the embattled former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki filed a suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai and the Nigeria army.


In the suit, Nicholas Ashinze, challenged the two institutions and the chief of army staff for his prolonged detention.


Ashinze, a serving army colonel like the Aide De Camp to the former president Goodluck Jonathan, Ojogbane Adegbe has been detained by the anti-graft agency and subsequently moved to a military facility, his lawyer, Mike Ozohkome said.



Ashinze was held by the EFCC for eight weeks and has spent five weeks in a military facility in Abuja.
More photos:

Colonel Nicholas Ashinze

The army colonel, the EFCC said, is under investigation over his connection with the popular DasukiGate saga.


However, his suit against the EFCC and the Nigeria army and the army chief of staff will be heard at an Abuja High Court in Jabi today, March 8.

In his application, Ashinze seeks an order from the court for the enforcement of his fundamental human right to personal liberty, dignity and right of fair hearing among others.

He also seeks a declaration that his continued detention and confiscation of his personal documents and property since December 23, 2015, is illegal and unlawful.

Ashinze filed for N500,000,000 damages to be paid by the three parties and a declaration that he deserves a public apology and adequate compensation from the respondents.

He also sought an order of injunction restraining either parties joined in the suit, their agents or employees from further inviting, arresting or detaining the applicant in their custody in relation to same
“frivolous” allegations.

New $321million Abacha loot: Swiss goverment to visit Nigeria

The Nigeria government is expected to welcome representatives of the Swiss government on Tuesday, March 8.


The two governments are to discuss on the repatriation of another tranche of huge public funds stolen by late Head of State, Sani Abacha.


Premium Times reports that the delegation would be led by the Swiss Minister for Foreign Affairs, Didier Burkhalter, who is expected to meet with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, over the repatriation of the $321million confiscated from the family of late former head of state, Sani Abacha.

An official of the Swiss Embassy in Nigeria, Pascal Holliger, confirmed the visit on Monday, March 7.

“Yes, our foreign Minister is on his way to Nigeria on Tuesday,” Mr Holliger said. “He is coming on a working visit to Nigeria. During the visit, he would open the Consular General’s office in Lagos and meet with the Vice President of Nigeria and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss the issue of the repatriation of the second tranche of the Abacha loot,” Holliger noted.

But some Swiss and Nigerian civil society groups, who got wind of the impending visit, dispatched a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari, demanding that his government give assurance that the $321million that would be returned to Nigeria by the Swiss government would be put to good use.

Copies of the petition titled “Restitution of Abacha funds: Swiss and Nigerian NGOs demand guarantees,” was sent to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and her foreign affairs counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama, and the Attorney-General of the Federation and minister justice, Abubakar Malami.

A copy of the petition was also sent to the World Bank Vice President for Africa, Makhtar Diop, and the Federal Department for Foreign Affairs Office for International Public Law (DDIP) in Berne, Switzerland.

Signed by representatives of eight civil society groups, the petitioners expressed concerns that the fund could disappear just like the repatriated funds by the government of Liechtenstein in 2914 if government did not take steps to guarantee transparency and accountability.

The Swiss government is set to hold talks with Nigeria over the repatriation of $321million confiscated from the family of late former head of state, Sani Abacha.


“Swiss and Nigerian NGOs demand that the authorities of these two countries, together with the World Bank, take all measures necessary to guarantee that these funds be returned in a manner that is transparent and benefits the general population of the country, the people that were initially cheated out of their money,” the petition read.

The groups said their fears followed the confidential agreement reached between the Nigerian government and the Abacha family in 2014, in which the Nigerian government agreed not to prosecute any member of the family in lieu of the returned loot.

The controversial agreement reportedly received the backing of Geneva’s public prosecutor, resulting in the withdrawal of all criminal charges against Mohammed, the eldest son of the late dictator, allegedly implicated in a case of laundering his father’s loot.

“There are fears in civil society, in both Switzerland and Nigeria, that this money could be embezzled once again,” Executive Director, African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), David Ugolor, told newsmen.

Mr Ugolor said the petition was sent to the Nigerian and Swiss governments, as well as the World Bank, to demand a guarantee that these funds would actually be used to finance projects that would improve the living conditions of the Nigerian people.

“It is imperative that they be allocated through a transparent process that involves both Swiss and Nigerian NGOs,” Mr. Ugolor said. “The transfers must also be performed in installments and upon the condition that the sums returned in previous installments were used as supposed,” he said.

Under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Ugolor said the $235million returned by the Liechtenstein government vanished without trace after government said the money was used to acquire arms to fight the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

Other signatories to the petition included Olivier Longchamp, Berne Declaration (Switzerland); Martin Hilti, Finances and Tax programs coordinator, Transparency International (Switzerland); Adetokunbo Mumuni, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (Nigeria); Mark Herkenrath, Alliance Sud (Switzerland); Debo Adeniran, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) (Nigeria); Godwin Uyi Ojo, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (Nigeria), and Blair Glencorse, Accountability Lab (UK).

Meanwhile, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami has announced that government will retrieve $750 million Abacha loot soon .

In an interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, Malami said the government is also aiming to recover £6.9 million (nearly N2 billion) stolen by the former governor of Delta state, Chief James Ibori.

How do you defend life? Show its beauty, Pope Francis says

Cultural trends and hardened hearts can obscure the value of human life. But true virtues, compassion and beauty are the way for Christians to overcome this, Pope Francis in a recent talk at the Vatican.


“In our time, some cultural orientations no longer acknowledge the imprint of divine wisdom either in the created reality, or in mankind,” the Pope said March 3.


“Human nature is thus reduced to mere matter that may be molded according to any design. Our humanity, however, is unique and so precious in God’s eyes. For this reason, the first nature to protect, so that it may bear fruit, is our human nature itself.”


The Pope spoke with participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life. The academy was founded in 1994 by St. John Paul II to defend human life from the perspective of Christian morals and Catholic teaching.


The defense of human life is done most effectively when we show the beauty of life, he said according to Vatican Radio.


“By displaying a genuine compassion and the other virtues, you will be precious witnesses of the mercy of the God of life,” he said.
“Virtue is the most authentic expression of the good that man, with God's help, is able to achieve…It is not merely a habit, but the constantly renewed decision to choose good.”


It's also “the highest expression of human freedom” and “the best that the human heart offers,” the Pope said.


“When the heart drifts away from the good and the truth contained in the Word of God, it runs many risks. It is without direction and risks mistaking good for bad and bad for good,” he continued. “Those who embark on this slippery slope fall into the trap of moral error and are oppressed by growing existential anguish.”


Pope Francis said that contemporary culture still has the principles to affirm that man is to be protected. However, this value is often threatened by “moral uncertainties that do not allow life to be defended in an effective way.”


“Not infrequently it can happen that 'splendid vices' are disguised under the mask of virtue,” he said. He stressed the necessity to cultivate virtues through continual discernment. Virtues must be rooted in God, the source of all virtue.


“The good that man does is not the result of calculations or strategies, or even the product of genetic programming or social conditioning. It is rather the fruit of a well-disposed heart and of the free choice that tends to true goodness.”


The virtues are not a “beautiful façade.” Rather, they help root out dishonest desires from our hearts and help us seek good.


The Pope reflected on how Scripture depicts the hardened heart.

“(T)he more the heart tends towards selfishness and evil, the more difficult it is to change,” he said. “As Jesus affirms, ‘Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’ And when the heart is corrupt, there are grave consequences for social life, as the prophet Jeremiah reminds us.”


“This condition cannot change either through theories, or by the effect of social or political reforms. Only the work of the Holy Spirit may change our hearts, if we collaborate: God himself, in fact, assures his effective grace to all those who seek it and those who convert with all their heart.”


Pope Francis praised the many institutions that serve life. He also warned of many other institutions that are more interested in economic interests than in working for the common good.


The Pope echoed his previous warnings against “a new ideological colonization” that takes over human and Christian thought “in the form of virtue, modernity, and new attitudes.” These “take away freedom” and are “afraid of reality as God created it.”


The Pope closed his remarks with a prayer. “We ask the help of the Holy Spirit, who draws us out of selfishness and ignorance,” he said. “Renewed by him, we can think and act according to God’s heart and show his mercy to those who suffer in body and spirit.”

UMYU Postgraduate Admission List is Out – 2015/2016

This is to inform all the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University (UMYU), Katsina State 2015/2016 academic session prospective postgraduate candidates that the management of the institution has released the names of candidates admitted into their various postgraduate programmes.
UMYU postgraduate admission list has been successfully uploaded online.


click here to view the list

No more witches in Ile-Ife- Ooni of Ife says

Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II says there are no more witches in Ile-Ife. The Ooni said this while receiving members of an ile-ife socio-cultural group known as Ife Klub 1 in his palace yesterday March 6th.

He said sons and daughters of Ile-Ife who have hitherto been scared of investing in their hometown over fear of witches and wizards destroying their investments, should not entertain such fears again as there are no more witches in the town:

“This Klub worked with my last two predecessors and is now working with me, so by the grace of God it will never disintegrate. I must stress to you all that the wellbeing of Ile-ife is paramount to me because we are like the proverbial white chicken who doesn’t appreciate its value.

Whereas, it is in its home that the chicken is not highly regarded, it is highly valued abroad.

God himself resides in Ile-Ife and that is the truth. There are many Ife sons and daughters who the land has blessed but they abandon their roots.

They say there are witches in Ile-Ife that kill children, or that if they establish businesses at home, witches won’t allow them to prosper.
There are no witches here that will disturb anybody anymore. They now want to have money and send their children to school too.”

The monarch appealed to his people to contribute towards the development of the kingdom, saying he is putting in his best to ensure that Ile-Ife becomes a leading tourist destination.

"Some are making money in Ife, yet they don’t contribute anything to its development, rather they take their monies to Ibadan, Ilesha, Lagos, London and America. The Almighty has restored Ile-Ife’s glory and we must not let it go dim. So many people of Ife origin have refused to come back home and this is why we are making concerted efforts to put many things in place to attract them"he said

VIDEO: Darey – “Asiko Laiye” ft. Olamide

Darey premieres the video to “Asiko Laiye” featuring YBNL’s boss, Olamide. The video features a cameo appearance from Ali Baba.
The video displays a transition from Grass To Grace.

DOWNLOAD VIDEO: Darey – “Asiko Laiye” ft. Olamide

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Fayose Threatens To Sack SSS Officials From Ekiti Government House

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said he will have to reconsider the presence of operatives of the State Security Service at the Government House and other establishments in the state following the alleged invasion of the state House of Assembly on Friday.

Ayodele Fayose led thugs to beat up judges

He said the SSS under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari was now operating outside its constitutional mandate.

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Mr. Fayose said he and the people of the state would not be intimidated by one million armed men of the SSS.

“The government of Ekiti State may have to reconsider the usefulness of men of the DSS in the government house and other institutions of the State government,” Mr. Fayose said.

He said the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government was pursuing a clandestine agenda of truncating democracy in Ekiti State and other Peoples Democratic Party-controlled states like Rivers and Bayelsa.

“If Buhari likes, let him relocate all DSS men in Nigeria with the entire ammunition in their armoury to Ekiti, the will of Ekiti people can never be broken,” he said.

“They will only try, and like they have always done, they will fail because dictatorship has never triumphed over the people.

“Even Buhari’s dictatorship between 1984 and 1985 ended one day and Nigerians will also outlive his present dictatorship.”

The governor said the SSS under Lawal Daura had abandoned its core mandate of providing intelligence for the protection of the internal security of Nigeria as provided in the Security Agencies Act Cap. N74 LFN, 2004.

“Instead of assisting the police, military and other security agencies with classified matters, we now have a DSS that is running after perceived opponents of the president, arresting goat and fowl thieves as well as husbands who assaulted their wives,” he said.

“If the DSS was alive to its responsibilities, we won’t be having Boko Haram insurgents killing Nigerians, all these kidnappings and Fulani herdsmen killings, raping and destroying farmlands in the South-West, South-East and North-Central zones in the country would have been nipped in the bud.”

Mr. Fayose also noted that the same way President Buhari used the National Security Organisation (NSO), headed by Ambassador Mohammed Lawal Rafindadi from Katsina State, is the same way the President is using the SSS, headed by another of his kinsman, Lawal Daura to harass, oppress and intimidate Nigerians.

“It is obvious that democracy in Nigeria is becoming unsafe in the hands of Buhari and his APC and those keeping silent now because of politics may also end up in the belly of this roaring lion that is threatening to consume our democracy,” he warned.

“Therefore, Nigerians and the international community should take special notice of the use of the DSS and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to muscle opposition.

“As for me, I wish to say once again that I am not among those Nigerians that are afraid of harassment by any agency of the federal government.

“I make bold to state that in the overall interest of democracy and well-being of Nigerians, I will continue to speak my mind on issues bordering on governance in Nigeria. I will not be intimidated.”

SOURCE: SAHARA REPORTERS

51 Graduates Make First Class Graduates UNIOSUN

The Acting-vice chancellor of Osun State University (UNISOUN), Prof Oguntola Jelil-Alamu, said out of 3164 graduates produced by the university, 51 graduated with First Class degree.
Prof Alamu, who made the disclosure at a pre-convocation briefing in Osogbo, said the First Class graduates emerged from six Colleges of the institution during the 2013/2014, and 2014/2015 academic sessions.



According to him, while 27 students bagged a first class honour for the 2013/2014 session, 24 students had first class in the 2014/2015 academic session, making a total of 51 first class students.
Alamu stated “the citadel in its tradition of excellence in teaching and character modelling had been able to produce intellectuals that were making wave all over the world. We remained focused, and committed to full implementation and evaluation of the University 2012-2016 Strategic plan.
“Since the last convocation ceremony in 2014, Osun State University has continued to make progress in teaching, research, community service, physical and infrastructural development. The 2014/2015 academic session witnessed the resuscitation of Entrepreneurial Training for the final year students, in line with the mission of the university.
“I am delighted to inform you that most of the graduants will be collecting two certificates by the end of this ceremony- Bachelor’s degree certificate and the Entrepreneurship skill set certificate,” Alamu added.

Photos: Ini Edo, Ibinabo Fiberisima, Ramsey Noah, Alibaba, others at AMVCA after party

The actors pictured at the after party of the AMVCA 2016 which held in Lagos over the weekend. Continue to see more photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EFCC seizes $1million cash from Badeh’s Abuja home

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it  found $1 million cash in one of the Abuja houses owned by embattled former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh. According to The Nation, the money was found hidden in one of the rooms in a mansion owned by the former military chief.

Badeh's trial for allegedly diverting N3.97 billion belonging to the Nigerian Air Force(NAF) will commence today March 7th at an Abuja High Court.

A top source in EFCC said:

“Apart from NAF funds, investigation confirmed that Badeh diverted funds meant for procurement of arms to Bureau De Change. We have interacted with some Bureau De Change operators. When we searched his mansion at 6, Ogun River Street in Maitama District in Abuja, $1million raw cash was found in one of the rooms. Our operatives made sure that the search of the house was conducted in the presence of Badeh’s neighbours who can attest to the discovery. We ensured that these neighbours witnessed our operation. Badeh has a case to answer on diversion of funds voted for arms procurement. I cannot tell you whether or not he will face separate charges on the $1million".

Fulani herdsmen actions more deadly than B'Haram – CAN

 

The actions of Fulani herdsmen have been described as more devastating than Boko Haram following the continued killing of Nigerians in cities and villages.

This position was made by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), after a meeting by the Southeast zone of the group in Enugu, on Sunday, March 6.

According to the Christian body, it was high time the government took decisive action towards curbing the menace of the Fulani herdsmen, Today.ng reports.

Referring to the recent killing of hundreds of villagers in Agatu, Benue state, the South East CAN said it was surprised that the herdsmen were murderously attacking communities with AK47 riffles while security agencies looked the other way.

The actions of Fulani herdsmen have been described as more devastating than Boko Haram by CAN following the continued killing of Nigerians in cities and villages

Most Rev. Prof. David Eberechukwu, the president of CAN in the zone and Dr. Ajujungwa Josephthe, the national chairman, Christian Enlightenment and Welfare Organization (CEWO) in a statement said: “Where do herdsmen get AK47 guns they carry and does it mean that both the police and the Army are not seeing them?”

“It has been a great burden on the church in the East with regards to the attack by Fulani herdsmen on every part of the six geo-political zones in the country, with much emphasis on the southern Nigeria and the North central zones.

“The attacks of the Fulani herdsmen on the innocent citizens of this country have become a nightmare on their host communities. The incessant rapes and murder of peace loving Nigerians is highly condemnable.

“We condemn the idea of grazing fields and ask the sponsors of such bill to desist from it. This is clearly importation of terrorists into the nation and peace will elude the entire country.”

“We urge the National Assembly never to pass such bill as we call on the federal government to come to the aid of the terrorized communities, where the herdsmen have created more problems than the Boko Haram.

“We advocate the building of ranches, which will in turn provide schools, hospitals and employment to the teeming unemployed youths. This is what is obtainable in developed countries.

“We also call on the State Governors to protect the communities under such threat and also strengthen community policing through the traditional rulers.”

Naij.com had reported days back that Agatu local government area was under attack by over 300 militants, a development which was reported to have erupted following the Senate south rerun election in the state.

It was gathered that at least 300 persons were confirmed dead following the siege on Agatu local government area of Benue state.