Jonathan panics, runs to Abuja as Buhari probes $2.1b oil cash

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dashed into Abuja to meet some powerful men to seek protection from the ongoing secret investigation being carried out by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Jonathan is disturbed by the determination of President Buhari to expose how $2.1bn was illegally withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

Jonathan has already zoomed with his protest to General Abubakar Abdulsalami.

The general is leader of the National Peace Committee for 2015 General Elections. The crux is that:

•the Buhari administration is trying to blackmail him and his erstwhile cabinet members;

•he is not pleased with the corruption tar being put on his administration; and that

•he is worried by the likely probe of the whereabouts of the $4billion taxes and dividends paid by the Nigerian Liquified Natural gas Ltd between 2009 and 2014.

Sources who pleaded anonymity “because of the sensitivity of the matter” told The Nation that Jonathan and some of his ministers are angry that Buhari ought to know that such taxes and dividends are remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Another matter that is seriously troubling Jonathan and his ministers, according to the sources, is how the NNPC under his watch allegedly blew N3.8trillion in three years.

The Abdulsalami Committee is yet to have audience with Buhari on the allegations made by Jonathan.

Jonathan arrived in the country last weekend to “defend his administration”. He could not be reached for his reactions as at the time of posting.

It was, however, learnt that he had chosen to table before the Abdulsalami Committee some issues, including the controversial $2.1bn withdrawn from the ECA without recourse to the NEC.

The source said: “The former President returned into the country at the weekend but he is unhappy with the bashing of his administration.

“Jonathan believes that Buhari is blackmailing him and his ministers, contrary to the terms of the 2015 poll peace agreement which led to a smooth transition from the PDP to the APC.

“I think Jonathan approached the Abdulsalami Committee so that he will be left alone by Buhari who openly said he inherited an empty treasury from his predecessor.”

A former minister in the Jonathan administration, who spoke in confidence, said: “The ex-President is unhappy that the administration of Buhari has been stigmatising his administration instead of putting him into confidence on issues.

“For God’s sake, let them allow this man to earn his well-deserved retirement. If there is any observation by the new government, there are standard official procedures of addressing such.”

Buhari had on June 29, raised a four-man panel to check how NNPC spent N3.8 trillion in three years.

The four ‘wise men’ are Governors Oshiomhole, Udom Emmanuel, El-Rufai and Dankwambo.

While awaiting the submission of the committee’s report, Oshiomhole revealed that the immediate past Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, took $2.1billion from the ECA without approval.

Out of the $2.1b, only $1b was paid to oil marketers as subsidy and the rest $1b used for GEJ's election.

Nigerian man jailed in the UK after he falsely used online photo of a US soldier to dupe 2 women

27 year old Nigerian man, Tosin Olasemo has been sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison by a UK court after he was found guilty of using the photo of a US soldier fighting in Afghanistan to dupe two white women he met on a dating site of £250,000.

Tosin, who lives in Cardiff, UK, set up a profile on match.com using the photo of an unidentified US soldier in uniform, to trick his victims into believing he was serving in Afghanistan. He called himself Captain Morgan Travis to his first victim, and Michael Travis to his second victim and claimed to be based at Camp Joyce but he was actually living in Moira Street in the Adamsdown area of Cardiff.

During online conversations with his first victim, 47-year-old widow Tine Jorgensen, Tosin could see her via her webcam but he refused to show his own face, saying he was not allowed to show his own face because of security issues in Afghanistan, an explanation which looked genuine and acceptable.

Tosin then demanded various sums of money from Ms Jorgensen, including money for administration fees and other costs to facilitate his leave so he could come see her. Tosin, while using his real account name and photo, later contacted Ms Jorgensen to claim Morgan Travis had been arrested, persuading her to hand over almost £212,000 more to try and secure his release.

Speaking on his demand for money, prosecutor Ruth Smith said:

"They were designed to play on her emotional feelings for Morgan Travis, saying if the money wasn't paid he would spend one and a half years in detention."

However, police in Denmark soon informed her she had been a victim of a crime. The prosecutor said that confronted with this news by Ms Jorgensen, Tosin then claimed to be living in Lagos, Nigeria and had borrowed money from militants in Nigeria whom he could not now repay.

"Unfortunately Ms Jorgensen still felt an attachment to the defendant and believed his explanation. But her suspicions grew and she eventually reported him to South Wales Police, who arrested him in Adamsdown on January 28 this year."the prosecutor said

Officers recovered a number of false documents, including Nigerian identity cards and drivers licences under various names at his home in Cardiff. The prosecutor continued

"The defendant tried to damage his laptop computer by throwing it on the floor and stamping on it, but was prevented from doing so by police officers at the premises. The defendant had numerous documents on (his) equipment referring to how to speak to women and gain their confidence.".

On his second victim, Polish divorcee Joanna Kosz-Strusiewicz, he initially persuaded her to part with £1,100.

"He continued to make demands for money from her and she decided to make investigations of her own. She found information which led to her believing she had been cheated and wrote to the defendant."

Tosin pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud, four counts of possession of false identity documents, three counts of possession of articles for use in fraud and a single count of acquiring criminal property. He was sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail today July 15th.

The court also added that Tosin whose UK visa will soon expire may be deported. 

Saraki’s Take on Buhari's new Service Chiefs Stirs Controversy

A controversial message posted on Twitter by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Monday night, sparked a serious controversy which forced his media team to make clarifications that further provoked even more critical reactions from Nigerians, on Tuesday.

Saraki, in his tweet, said that President Muhammadu Buhari did not require the approval of the Senate to nominate the country’s service chiefs. He specifically said it was not the business of the Senate to approve the appointment of service chiefs.

Saraki was reacting to the President’s statement on Monday that the newly-appointed service chiefs would function in acting capacity pending the Senate’s approval.

He noted that the upper chamber could only approve the appointments of ministers and heads of Federal Government agencies.

The Senate President wrote, “Appointment of service chiefs is an exclusive function of Mr. President. Senate can only approve ministerial, parastatals etc.”

But while reacting to the controversy generated by the statement, Saraki’s media team said those who made comments on the social media over the issue actually misinterpreted Saraki’s message.

The statement read in part:

"The attention of the Media Office of the Senate President has been drawn to a story making the rounds to the effect that the Senate does not need to screen or confirm the new service chiefs appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“However, we want to make it abundantly clear that based on inquiries made from the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on whether the Senate was consulted before the appointment of the new service chiefs was announced, he had in response tweeted that the appointment of service chiefs is the exclusive function of the President as stipulated by the constitution.

“Let it be known that his comment is now being misinterpreted to say the Senate will neither screen nor confirm the new service chiefs. This is far from the truth.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Saraki has said his comment is without prejudice to the extant laws and court pronouncements on the issue and that the Senate will do the needful when the list of the new service chiefs is sent to it by Mr. President.”

Meet Buhari's New Military Service Chiefs and The NSA

President Buhari on Monday appointed five new Service Chiefs and national security adviser (NSA). The president announced the appointment of the new service chiefs after relieving the former service chiefs and the former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), of their jobs.

The new NSA is Major-General Babagana Monguno (retd.) while the new service chiefs are:
Major-General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin, chief of defence staff; Major-General T.Y. Buratai, chief of army staff; Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, chief of naval staff; Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, chief of air staff, Air Vice Marshal Monday Riku Morgan, chief of defence intelligence.

Check out more photos of the new service chiefs below:

Maj Gen Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin - Chief of Defence Staff

 

A statement by Buhari's special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, noted that “the new service chiefs will hold their appointments in an acting capacity until confirmed by the Senate.”

SSS Grills Top NNPC Director Over Secret Deals

A top director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said that operatives of the Department of State Services have interrogated him 11 different times since May over crude oil swap deals with traders.

“The DSS has been harassing some of us,” the Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals, NNPC, Mr. Ian Udoh, was quoted as telling Reuters.

The investigation by the DSS and anti-graft agencies involves crude oil swap deals and offshore processing agreements in which the corporation gives certain volume of crude oil to traders in exchange for refined products.

Instead of ensuring that crude oil was made available to the nation’s four refineries for domestic consumption, the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in conjunction with the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, increased the crude oil swaps and OPAs from 270,000 barrels per day to 445,000 bpd, thus starving the refineries of crude oil.

President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed the NNPC to review the crude for oil products swap contracts and offshore processing agreements with trading companies because of the belief that the deals might have cost the country millions of dollars in lost revenue and refined product supply.

“There is a siege mentality here at the moment,” Udoh, an NNPC man of 36 years, was quoted as saying.

He said Buhari’s initiative had given fresh legs to media coverage of the accounting holes worth over $20bn identified by two separate investigations, and that the public pressure was dominating management meetings.

The DSS operatives were said to be closely monitoring the headquarters of NNPC in Abuja, with soldiers guarding the building, while visitors were required to go through four separate security checks.

OAU Shut Over Workers’ Protest Concerning Non-Payment of “Hazard Allowances”

Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) has been shut temporarily due to workers’ protests over non-payment of hazard allowances for 64 months.

The closure was announced on Sunday after an emergency senate meeting,Punch reports.

Students have been advised to vacate the premises.

However, some school authorities told newsmen that the closure has nothing to do with the protests, and that it was just a ‘mid-semester break.’

Upon further investigation, newsmen are said to have discovered that there has never been such ‘mid-semester break’ throughout the history of the university’s existence.

President Buhari sacks all Service Chiefs

President Buhari has sacked all Service Chiefs. Their sack was made known by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina while he spoke to state house correspondents this afternoon.

The fired service chiefs include the Chief of Defence staff, and the heads of Army, Navy and the Air Force. More details later.

Photos: Billionaire James Stunt goes on a shopping spree in London with a motorcade fit for a president

33 year old British billionaire businessman James Stunt, who is married to Petra - the daughter of Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone - went on a shopping spree in London yesterday in a luxury motorcade fit for a president. The cars, which included two Rolls-Royce vehicles - thought to have a minimum value of £285,000 each, two Range Rovers and other luxury cars - were spotted lined up outside an auction house in London as the art dealer, accompanied by his vast team of security staff, went inside to buy more art work.

James is said to be worth about £5.5billion. Members of his team were seen carrying the paintings out from the auction house and loading them into the waiting fleet. More photos after the cut...

James and his wife of 4 years, Petra pictured above. James made his money from the gambling, art, mining and Transcontinental shipping industry. He reportedly has over 200 rare collector’s cars between his collections in the US and UK which reportedly includes two Rolls-Royce Celestials, three Lamborghinis, two Mercedes and two Range Rovers.

Photo credit: FlameFlynet

Happy 81st birthday to Professor Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka is 81 years old today July 13th. Happy Birthday to him.

Photos from Rita Dominic's 40th birthday dinner

The award-winning actress and stunning fashionista turned 40 yesterday July 12th and hosted a dinner party with family and friends. Happy belated birthday to her. More pics after the cut...