N1.4bn Fraud: Court sentences Ex-Kogi Lawmaker to 154 years

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, today, April 25th, secured the conviction of a former member of the Kogi State House of Assembly and former Caretaker Chairman, Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of the state, Gabriel Daudu, for a N1.4 billion fraud.
Daudu who was first arraigned in April 2010, was prosecuted by the EFCC on a 208 count charge bordering on money laundering and misappropriation of public funds.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, who presided over the case at a Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, found him guilty of 77 counts and sentenced him to 154 years imprisonment. In his ruling, the trial judge, held that the prosecution proved its case beyond every reasonable doubt, and therefore sentenced Daudu to two years on each of the 77 counts to run concurrently.
Before the conviction of Daudu, prosecuting counsel, Wahab Shittu, tendered various exhibits before the court and fielded 13 witnesses to prove the case against him. It would be recalled that in the course of the trial presided over by Justice Ekwo, had indicated that the trial might have to start afresh as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, had asked Justice P.M. Ayuba of the Lokoja Division of the court to take over the case.
However, Shittu had pleaded with Justice Auta to review the decision. The Chief Judge, thereafter, returned the case file to Justice Ekwo, who has now found Daudu guilty of the 77 counts.

Indigenes of Dutse use water and brooms to 'disinfect mess' brought by PDP leader Ali Modu Sheriff and others (photos)

The National leader of the People Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Ali Modu Sherriff, six serving governors, members of the National Assembly stormed Dutse, Jigawa State today for the party's Membership Mobilization Programme. Mammoth crowd turned up for the event.
Shortly after they departed, some indigenes of Dutse took to the streets with brooms and gallons of water to "disinfect the mess brought by PDP"

According to Mamuda who shared these photos on Facebook:
"JIGAWA STATE STILL STAND FIRMLY WITH APC...Indigines of Dutse took to the road with water and brooms to sanitize and disinfect mess brought by PDP national leader ALI MODU SHERIFF on their roads immediately after they left the state capital"

MUSIC: King New Jay ( @KingNewJay ) - you And I Ft. Stylish Brhizzhy ( @StylishBrhizzhy ) x Graham D ( @GrahamWene )

Delta State fast rising singer King New Jay is here with another tune fresh
after releasing his "Booty bangz" video a couple of weeks ago.

"You and I" is a melodious hip hop song prodiced by Tg Da Teega and it
features the self accliamed new king of the south Stylish Brhizzhy and
fellow Delta State singer and producer Graham D.


Download and share your comments below..

         Download Mp3 Here

MUSIC: CZAR BLAZE - INDISPOSABLE

Again its Czarblaze dropping a new single titled Indisposable. This guy has proven to be the king of hip hop in d middle belt and this song is just one of his banger...

Download and share your views...

Click here to download mp3.

CNPP urges Buhari to sack ex-govs serving as ministers

Worried about the woes confronting the nation’s domestic economy, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately relieve all former governors serving in his cabinet of their duties.
It urged the President to appoint proven technocrats to run his change agenda if the Federal Government really desires to succeed in attracting foreign investment into the country.
The advice by CNPP to President Buhari was contained in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, at the weekend. According to the CNPP, unless the former governors serving under Buhari’s cabinet were removed, the image of the regime will remain tainted with corruption, his anti-graft war notwithstanding.
The CNPP recalled that some of the former state executives left their states with empty treasury, leading to the bailout loans by the Buhari administration to enable them pay salary arrears of their workforce.
Ezugwu said: “For President Muhammadu Buhari to succeed in his change agenda, all former governors in his cabinet must be sacked to create room for technocrats to run his government if he must succeed.
“Some former governors serving in this government not only left their respective states with empty treasury but also in heavy debts such that it took the President’s bailout fund for salary arrears of states’ workers to be paid.” The CNPP scribe further said that foreign investors that the nation is labouring to attract would not come as most of them have the records of some of the former governors that ran their states aground and destroyed their economies.
“It will amount to effort in futility for the President to be labouring to attract investors as they will not entrust their hard-earned resources to well-known bad managers. This is the reason the Buhari government, which will be one year next month, yet has nothing to show for it except hardship and more hardship across the country despite the change mantra”, Ezugwu further said.

Buhari appeals to Nigerians to be patient with him while he works on the changes needed to grow the economy

President Buhari through a statement by the Presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu appealed to Nigerians to be patient with him over the difficulties in the land, adding that the change he promised will be achieved soon.
As part of the change, the President ordered the release of 10,000 tons of grains from the national strategic grains reserves to help alleviate hard times people were suffering.
The statement reads in full...
The Presidency firmly rejects the insinuations that poverty and lack are products of the Change mantra. This should be dismissed as an erroneous and misplaced opposition criticism. The President understands the pain and the cries of the citizens of this country and he is spending sleepless nights over how he can make life better for everyone.
Contrary to assertions by a faction of the opposition Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, the President’s energy and focus are on changing the lives of Nigerians, with a view to making it better than he met it.
“Change is a process. Change does not happen overnight. Change can be inconvenient. Change sometimes comes with pain. Over the past year, the government has been working night and day to deliver on its promise of change to Nigerians, and the painful process is still ongoing. “This is work in progress
. As life gradually returns to normal in much of the country and the northeast in particular, agriculture will resume and traders from neighbouring African countries will once again feel safe to do business with us. “It is estimated, for instance, that three Northeast states of Nigeria alone have so far lost about three trillion Naira (Nine billion US Dollars) to the Boko Haram insurgency.
The previous administration at the center said Federal Government losses amounted to about USD18 billion. “It would have been a miracle for our country’s economy not to feel the effects of this. And, in addition to the thousands of lives lost to the insurgency, thousands have also lost their means of livelihood.
The northeast region of Nigeria is a mostly agrarian society, which means Nigeria has lost billions of naira in agricultural produce. Many communities, which have had their yearly planting and harvesting cycle disrupted by Boko Haram attacks or occupation are still yet to return to their farms. In many of these communities, there have not been planting and consequent harvest for between two to five years.
“At the time this government came to power, about 600 billion naira was owed to fuel marketers in subsidy payments. Strategic fuel reserves were depleted and local refineries not functioning. “One of the President’s first steps was to pay off the marketers, leaving an outstanding of about N150 billion which is captured in the 2016 budget. The Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries are being brought back to life. Shortly, Nigeria will resume refining its own fuel rather than depending on imports.
” As part of the permanent solution of recurring cycle of petroleum products shortages, government is working on a plan to ensure that some of the newly-licensed independent refineries start coming on stream from 2018.” “Government is also turning its attention to the sabotage of the oil and gas infrastructure that has taken so much away from the generation and distribution of electricity.”
“These are just some aspects of the change that Nigerians voted for, a change that is happening and which will soon be felt by Nigerians in every nook and cranny of our country. “Nigerians are a people renowned for our inner strength and our ability to triumph. These are just the darkest days before the dawn. The change Nigerians voted has indeed begun.”

“I know that Nigerians are going through a very difficult time but Change is Irrevocable” – VP Osinbajo reassures Nigerians

Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday reassured Nigerians that the question of Change in the country was irrevocable and the present administration was completely committed to it.
He spoke at a town hall meeting organised in Lagos by a group, United Action for Change, urging Nigerians never to lose hope.
The VP re-emphasised that the Buhari-led administration was committed to changing the nation for the better. Osinbajo said that change was not a mere slogan as the country could not survive going the way it had always gone.
“The question of Change is irrevocable,” he said, assuring Nigerians that things, though difficult, would be better. “I know that Nigerians are going through a very difficult time, so does the President. There is the power problem, there is fuel scarcity, even inflation, oh yes, but these are birth pains. You can be sure this is not going to be the end of the story; as a matter of fact, the end of the story is going to be a story of prosperity and abundance for the nation,” he said.
The Vice President said that there was a determination by the government to ensure that the country changes its direction and the best chance to do so successfully was with a honest and straightforward leader like President Buhari.
He said that the present leadership of the country had no other agenda than to change the country for the better.
“We have no other agenda. You can look at our balance sheets after our tenure and you will find that we have not enriched ourselves,” he said.
The Vice President, who answered 20 questions put to him by the audience, said that the government was working to end the problem of recurrent fuel scarcity in the country.
He said that the government was among other things, asking or co-location of refineries by the private sector and some investors were already showing interest.
Osinbajo also said that the government was also committed to the health insurance scheme the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaigned about during its electioneering.
“We intend, by the end of our administration, to have a complete coverage,” he said,
Osinbajo said that the N500 billion social protection fund would revolutionalise the nation’s social security scheme. He said that Nigeria’s economy was already diversified and the government only needed to encourage each of the sectors to stimulate growth and make them bring in more revenue.
The VP also told the gathering that the government believed that the most effective way to move goods and people from one point to another was through rail and one of its biggest projects was in the area of railways.
He blamed the present power problems in the country on vandalism among other problems and promised that the government was addressing the problems to make things better.
Earlier, Dr. Muiz Banire , (SAN) and the APC National Legal Adviser as well as the convener of the meeting, said it was a feedback forum to enable the government to know where the shoes were pinching the people.
“We engage in mass education of the public and the essence of this maiden town-hall meeting is to establish contact between the government and the people,” he said.
Banire, also a former Commissioner in Lagos State under former Governors Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola , said that the group comprised people from all walks of life.

5 Reasons why she is obsessed with Getting Married

Women rate the idea of marriage very highly. Ask any girl around and she will say that when she has found the right guy, she will want to get married to him as soon as possible. It is in the nature of most women to behave a certain way, and believe it or not, every woman has the natural tendency to settle with the right guy. That’s not all. There is more to it and here are a few reasons why she is obsessed with the idea of getting married:


5. Her parents want her to settle.
Getting married is one of the aims that every woman sets in her life. That is because all her life, her parents have fed this idea into her head. They want her to be with the right man for the rest of her life. Marriage is a bond and a promise to always be there for one another – ‘in sickness and in health’ and ‘for better or for worse’. They don’t want their daughter to be in temporary flukes that will eventually result in breakups and in breaking apart.

4.Everyone forces her to get married.
A woman knows that getting married is an important part of her life. This is because of the society pressure. It is something less common in the developed world, but the all the eastern countries cannot just emphasize enough on this. There, a woman can not just state that she doesn’t want to get married. A woman has to get married. She has to settle. She has no other option, and this is why, certain women are obsessed with this idea of getting married.

3.She has always wanted to be a bride
Now, let me talk about the soft side of a woman. I know am not a girl, but I know how things go. All their lives, when they see a woman rocking her wedding dress, they imagine being there in her place. They tend to melt on the idea of getting married. That’s just how women are! We are cheesy and obsessive, and I believe that this is what makes them beautiful and soft.

2.For the security.
Whether you like it or not, a marriage promises security. Be it emotional, mental, financial or physical security, women realize that getting married brings everything like this in her life. She realizes that she will need all these things at one point in her life. She doesn’t want to be alone and completely independent. The best way to strive in this world is not by being independent, but by being co-dependent, and that is what she wants to offer and gain from a marriage.


1. She wants to be a mother
Women are gifted a maternal instinct by God. Most women tend to be great with kids. They naturally want kids of their own and wanting a kid out of wedlock is always a risky job. There is no promise of that man staying with you. With marriage, there comes a little promise and emotional connection that he will stay there for you and for your child. For that, a woman always dreams about getting married and having the perfect husband around to raise her children with her.


GoodLuck

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Electricity workers inherited from PHCN resist reforms- Official

The Jos Electricity Distribution Company, JEDC, has accused some of its workers of resisting reforms.

The JEDC said the workers it inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, Jos, following its sale in 2013, are resisting the reforms aimed at re-positioning the outfit.


The JEDC’s Managing Director, Mohammed Modibbo, who made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Jos, said the workers have yet to realise that the company was now a private outfit working towards meeting strict corporate goals.
According to him, management’s insistence on assessing the productivity of staff towards ensuring that everyone is an asset that adds value to the outfit, is being resisted by some workers.
“We try to assess every worker and his contributions to service delivery; we try to know the needs of our customers and make sure that every worker has a duty he or she must play in the chain toward efficiency.
“We also set corporate targets and insist that we must all work hard towards meeting such goals; certainly, we cannot carry along with dead woods and people that are weak, redundant and not productive,” Mr. Modibbo declared.
The managing director spoke in reaction to the recent picketing of the JEDC headquarters by some workers, over alleged “indiscriminate sacking” some of their colleagues.
The workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employee, NUEE, had also alleged that there was disparity in the salaries of workers, with those inherited from the old PHCN earning less than those employed by the JEDC after it took over in 2013.
Led by Musa Ayiga, NUEE’s Vice President in the North-East, the workers further alleged that persons engaged as interns had yet to be regularised as permanent employees.
But Mr. Modibbo said that the JEDC had only disengaged 41 workers found not to be useful, and employed 249 new workers.
“We did not engage in a mass sack of workers as is being alleged by the union; we only removed redundant personnel whose productivity has dropped.
“Among those sacked were four Assistant General Managers, four Business Managers as well as principal and senior managers we found unproductive and needed replacement to enable us perform at our optimum.
“We operate the company as a private outfit that knows that it could only survive if it works with the best hands that will add value to the system,” Mr. Modibbo explained.
Mr, Modibbo said that Mr. Ayiga, who led the protest, was among those sacked, and expressed surprise that he mobilised students to picket the office, unmindful of the fact that JEDC promoted him before he was disengaged.
“When he worked with the PHCN, he stayed for more than 13 years without promotion but we elevated him before he was disengaged, only for him to turn round and mobilise some people to disrupt service delivery,” Mr. Modibbo said.
He said that it was wrong for the workers’ union to seek to force the company to work with people considered redundant and unproductive.
He alleged that some of the workers were sacked over unwholesome activities, adding that it was such workers that mobilised students to seal JEDC’s headquarters and disrupt its services.
He said that JEDC was a private outfit that must stay afloat and survive, hence its placing of premium on productivity and resourcefulness.
“The records and data are there to support the performances of those sacked and those retained,” he said.
The managing director also dismissed claims of alleged disparity in salaries of workers, explaining that the salaries were harmonised in November 2015.
“We harmonised the salaries in November 2015 and increased the wages by 200 per cent across board.
“We know the relevance of morale to efficiency and cannot treat some workers better than others, because we all need their maximum output,’’ he said.
Mr. Modibbo said that he had never engaged in any argument with the union, and warned that the company may be forced to take legal action against the union if it continued to mobilize “thugs” to disrupt its activities.
(NAN)

ESUT loses accreditation over sack of 153 lecturers

The Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT),has lost accreditation of several departments following its alleged disengagement of about 153 of its lecturers.


DAILY POST recalls that in what was then termed “academic fraud”, the affected university lecturers had lamented that they were sacked by ESUT authorities shortly after using them to scale last accreditation exercise of some of its faculties/departments.


Despite several protest letters and appeals, the University refused to rescind the sack.
Confirming the withdrawal of the accreditation of faculties/departments earlier given to ESUT authorities on Tuesday, the Director of Information and Public Relations of the NUC, Mallam Ibrahim Yakassai, said that the NUC under the Executive Secretary, Professor Julius Okojie frowned at a situation where some universities hired and sacked lecturers immediately after using them (lecturers) to get accreditation from the Commission.


Malam Yakassai acknowledged that the Commission received several petitions from the dismissed lecturers from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology over their alleged wrongful dismissal from service.


He said, “Following the series of petitions from the disengaged staff of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, the NUC on February 12, 2016 withdrew accreditation of Mass Communication,
Engineering, Psychology and some other departments. The NUC cannot sit down and watch such ugly development”.


In a Save Our Soul letter sent to the NUC through their lawyer, B. N Ugwu, the affected lecturers had alleged that they were intimidated, and unlawfully disengaged by the University authorities.



The petitioners recalled, “Sometime in May, 2015, the authorities of ESUT under the headship of Professor Cyprian Onyeji advertised and offered employment to about 153 eligible applicants who scaled through in the pre-employment interviews and screening to different departments and faculties of the university.


“Since our employment in May, 2015, none of us had been paid salaries notwithstanding that we played our roles in teaching, setting examinations invigilating, markings papers,
supervision of projects and submission of result which enabled ESUT to access, promote and graduate deserving students accordingly.


“We can now realize that the essence of our employment was for the university to pass the 2015 NUC accreditation. It is sad that we have been dumped after being used for the accreditation exercise”.


They further stated that the authorities of ESUT immediately after
serving them with the purported letter of disengagement from service, back-dated it to October, 2015, before moving to advertise for their replacement.


“We cry wolf and shudder at this level of intimidation, indiscriminate and unlawful sack/disengagement aimed at short-changing our dreams and aspirations. We are law abiding citizens of Nigerians.


“ESUT authorities are skimming presently to employ new staff/lecturers to fill our vacancies. The ESUT authorities sooner or later will approach the NUC to demand for fresh accreditation visit to renew their respective department accreditation based on the purported new lecturers that the institution is plotting to recruit at our detriment.


“We are confident that the Commission’s whip is potent enough to caution, correct, guide and direct any erring university authority in the country. The change regime of President Muhammed Buahri is a
legacy, more importantly as the government frowns against corruption, un-patriotism, and their likes”, they noted.


When contacted, the ESUT Director of Communication, Ossy Ugwuoti, said he was not competent to comment on the matter until he gets clearance from his principal.

Port Harcourt , Warri Refineries Producing 7 m Litres Of Petrol Per Day – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC ), weekend , stated that the newly re -opened Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are now producing seven million litres of Premium Motor Spirit , PMS, also known as petrol per day .
According to an NNPC statement in Abuja, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the NNPC Emmanuel Kachikwu made the disclosure while re -commissioning the Bonny -Port Harcourt Refinery crude pipeline that had been rehabilitated after being out of use for a number of years due to incessant pipeline vandalism .
The minister said the Port Harcourt Refining Company now produces five million litres of Premium Motor Spirit while the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company also produces two million liters of petrol per day .
“ Port Harcourt is back in production , Warri is back in production , Kaduna as at today is receiving crude and will soon be back in production . Lagos is easing off now from fuel scarcity and Abuja is doing the same thing and once Kaduna begins production , the North will see a lot of improvement , ” he explained .
He explained that the investors will help us to provide technical support and they will be paid through the flow out of refined products over a period of time “ which is why we have also changed the refining model such that refineries pay for their crude so it goes into federation account ” .

APC wins House of Reps by-election in Yobe

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won the Damaturu/Tarmuwa/Gujba/Gulani federal constituency by-election in Yobe.
Prof. Sunday Alao, Returning Officer of the election on Saturday in Damaturu declared APC candidate, Hon Abdullahi Kukuwa as the winner.
Kukuwa scored 23,745 votes to be declared as winner against Hon Nasiru Hassan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 6,990 votes to emerge second.
Adamu Dina of the Advance Congress for Democracy (ACD) scored 163 votes while Jibrin Ladan of the National Conscience Party (NCP) scored 139 votes.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the election was conducted on Saturday to replace Hon. Khadija Bukar, who was appointed minister in the federal cabinet.
Mr Zannah Ibrahim, Yobe Commissioner of Police said there was no violence recorded in any of the four participating Local Government areas.
NAN reports that Yobe would head for another by- election following the return of Abdullahi Kukuwa who currently represents Gulani constituency in the state assembly as winner of the just concluded by-election. (NAN)