Nigerian man allegedly beats his own mother to death in Texas

Mother of four, Hauwa Esther Kadima, 61, who was an accomplished professor of languages, and a published author, was bludgeoned to death at her home in Longview, Texas, on July 28th. Her last child, 31 year old Daniel Kadima (left) has been arrested in connection with her death.

Police was called to her home on July 28th and found her beaten to death - a bloody chair was lying next to her body. Police believe it was the murder weapon. She had fractures to her skull with laceration of the brain because of blunt impact to the head, according to autopsy findings. Daniel, who had called police to report a person lying dead in the apartment, was arrested the next day.


Daniel's ex-wife later told police about the years she suffered abuse in his hands and also detailed his history of mental illness. Daniel is in police custody while they investigate the murder.

The motive for the killing is not yet known

Dr. Kadima was a long-time professor of languages and mass communications at the University of Jos, Nigeria, where for many years she also served as a Head of Department. She was born in 1953 in the village of Bakin Kogi in the southern part of the State of Kaduna.  

Finally, CBN bans All Foreign Currency Deposits to Save Naira

In its frantic efforts to save the Naira from further humiliation by the Dollar and other currency, the Central Bank of Nigeria has banned the payment of cash into domiciliary accounts all over Nigeria.

In a circular on Wednesday signed by the Director of Trade and Exchange, CBN, Olakanmi Gbadamosi, the apex bank said its action followed recent statements by individual banks suspending the payment of foreign currencies into domiciliary accounts.

Gbadamosi wrote, “The Central Bank of Nigeria has considered the recent statements by Deposit Money Banks concerning the large volume of foreign currencies in their vaults and the decision to stop accepting foreign currency cash deposits into customers’ domiciliary accounts as a welcome development.

“Therefore, in its continued efforts to stop illicit financial flows in the Nigerian banking system which aligns with the anti-money Laundering stance of the Federal Government, the CBN hereby prohibits from the date of this circular the acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits by DMBs.

“For foreign currency cash lodgements made prior to the date of this circular, the account holder has the option to either withdraw his or her foreign currency cash or the Naira equivalent. For the avoidance of doubt, only wire transfers to and from Domiciliary Accounts are henceforth permissible.

“The CBN advises individuals that wish to source foreign currency for eligible and legitimate purposes such as BTA, PTA medical, mortgage, school fees, goods etc. to do so through recognised channels with the use of Form ‘A’ for “invisible” and Form ‘M’ for ‘visible’ transactions. By this circular, those who deposited foreign currencies into their accounts before the directive will now have to withdraw the cash as they are not going to be allowed to transfer the funds.”

Check Out Governor Fayose Dancing Openly In Ekiti

If you make a former bus driver governor, things can never go according to protocol. See more photos...

The dancing took place in Ikere-Ekiti where Governor Fayose had gone for a ground breaking ceremony.

AMAECHI: Governor Wike Has Been Put To Shame

...Rivers APC hails Nigerians for celebrating Ex-Governor’s legacies
The Caretaker Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, has been put to shame by the large crowd of Nigerians from all walks of life who gathered at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, on Monday to honour the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and celebrate his legacies.

“By turning out in large numbers to honour Ex-Governor Amaechi and through their touching testimonies at that grand reception put together by Amaechi’s Committee of Friends, Nigerians have spoken with one loud voice, shaming Chief Nyesom Wike, who has devoted the past two months of his illegal occupation of the Government House in Port Harcourt to wage an unnecessary war against the man who made him politically in a desperate bid to tarnish his reputation,”

the Rivers State Chapter of APC said in a statement signed by the Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya.

The party condemned Wike’s witch-hunting of Amaechi, noting that it is a classic case of one biting the finger that once fed him. “We are, however, not perturbed by Wike’s antics because, as we have pointed out time without number, the Caretaker Governor is hounding an innocent man and his efforts to rubbish and pull down Amaechi, who is his political mentor, will turn out to be futile,” Rivers APC said.

It drew Wike’s attention to the testimonies of important political leaders at the reception for Amaechi, all of whom acknowledged the former Rivers State Governor to be an incorruptible Nigerian patriot. “We are grateful to Nigerians for taking their stand on the side of the truth on the Amaechi issue. Our special thanks go to President Muhammadu Buhari for his continued confidence in Amaechi, as well as to Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, his Plateau State counterpart, Rt. Hon. Barr. Simon Bako Lalong, President Buhari’s wife, Aisha Buhari, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, for publicly identifying with Amaechi and testifying to his unimpeachable character,” Rivers APC said.

It advised Wike to bury his head in shame as the overwhelming positive declarations in Amaechi’s favour means that his plot to pull down his predecessor has hit the rocks as earlier predicted by the party.

Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze
SSA Media and Public Affairs to the 

State Chairman, APC Rivers State

Female Artist Protest Against Slavery With Nudity

In memory of African slaves, Ms Nona Faustine, a black artiste in America, has gone to different spots in New York to pose n*de as a way of protesting over African slaves who were sold in the 18th century at those spots. She says her going n*de shows the vulnerability of the slaves sold there and the violence against humanity that still troubles the nation till date. The pictures are too graphic, I can't post all.

Meet Nkem, The New NNPC GMB's Beautiful Daughter

Hours after his appointment by President Buhari as the GMD of NNPC, Ibe Kachikwu and his family were visited with another blessing as his daughter, Nkem, also welcomed a baby. See the cute babe...

It's a bouncing baby boy!

I Regret Smoking Igbo; It Made Me leave Church to Steal Cars

A suspected armed robbery gang have confessed to the police in Lagos that smoking "igbo" Indian hemp, led them into violent crime. The gang, was arrested by the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of Zone 2 of the Nigeria Police Force based at Onikan, Lagos.

One of them, simply identified as Chukwuemeka, says he was introduced into armed robbery after he joined the Igbo smokers in Ajegunle, a popular suburb in Lagos.

Chukwuemeka and three other members of his gang were arrested on July 23 at Ajegunle, while on their way for an operation.

They were actually going to snatch a Toyota car when luck ran out on them. Chukwuemeka, 32, who spoke to NAN at the Zone 2 headquarters, said that having been initiated into smoking Indian hemp he met different gangs involved in violent crimes. “I regret joining Indian hemp smokers. I am a commercial bus driver, but every evening after work, I go to Bola area of Ajegunle to smoke hemp.

“I met our gang leader, simply identified as Ogaga at the smoking joint. We exchanged telephone numbers. “And one Sunday, he called me to meet him at Bola that there was a business,’’ he told pressmen, lamenting his involvement in crime. “I left church after Sunday service to meet Ogaga. While at the place, he told me that there is one Alhaji that we will work for and get paid “When I heard the title Alhaji, I thought he was a politician.

“Few minutes later, one man came and introduced himself as Alhaji. He told us that he needs clean stolen cars to buy and promised to go with us in the operation. “Our job is to snatch the car at gun point and escape; and I agreed. “I regretted coming from the church to where they were planning to go and rob, yet, I agreed to the operation. It is the devil that pushed me.’’

Speaking to newsmen also, Ogaga, 29, who claimed to be a welder, said he was introduced to other members of the gang while in Ikoyi Prison for a similar offence. Ogaga claimed that after regaining his freedom from the prison, he got connected to one Alhaji Onile, who requested him to recruit men to steal cars for him to buy.

“I live at No. 45, Ojo Road, Ajegunle. I was in Ikoyi prison between 2009 and 2010 for alleged robbery. I was awaiting trial before I was granted bail. “I was introduced to robbery by one inmate in the prison called Godswill, a.k.a. Commando to one Alhaji Onile. It was after my bail that we decided to rob cars for Alhaji.

“We have two locally made pistols and cartridges brought by other members of the gang. I also introduced other members to Alhaji,’’ he confessed. 

Another of their members, called Daniel, 28, who claimed to be a sailor in Port Harcourt, said he met Ogaga at new Road Bridge, Bola, Ajegunle.

Daniel said he went there to smoke Indian hemp, stressing that Ogaga requested for hemp from him claiming that he had no money to buy that day.

“I bought for him and then we became friends. He told me that he has a contact from prisons that would fetch them money. “He said he knows one Alhaji who requested them to work for him. We called Aljhaji and he promised to see us the next day. “Alhaji came and met us in front of Tolu Medical Hospital, Ajegunle. It was at that place I met Chukwuemeka.

“Alhaji said that he would take us to a place where he would show to us nice cars that he wants us to steal for him to buy. “He gave us N3,000 to take care of ourselves. The second day, he came with his driver and met us at Koriola Street, Ajegunle, close to where we usually smoke hemp.

“We entered his car and were about driving to where we would carry out the operation when SARS men stopped us and arrested everybody. “I regretted being a member of this gang. We would have carried out the operation, but for the arrest,’’ Daniel said.

The last of the four, Oluchukwu, 27, who claimed to be a musician in Anambra, said he came to Lagos to see his brother, one Emeka in Ikoyi Prisons. Oluchukwu said Emeka had been in prison since 2011 for an alleged murder case, adding that his brother gave him Ogaga’s phone number to meet him for assistance.

He said he had not been to Lagos before the arrest, noting that Ogaga was to take to him to Ikoyi prisons to see his brother. Oluchukwu said he was arrested by the police at Cele bus stop, while hoping to see Ogaga who had asked him to wait at the bus stop.

“Unfortunately for me, I was arrested and only to discover that the Ogaga I was to meet was already in the custody of the police."

Reacting to their arrest, the Deputy spokesman of Zone 2 Police Command, ASP Adeyanju Shem, said the police had been on their trail but had only arrested these four and hoped to arrest other gang members.

What the House of Representatives looked like in 1956

This was when Queen Elizabeth II came to visit... 

REVEALED: Jonathan Govt earned $11.8b from LNG; not $5bn

Nigeria earned at least $11.8 billion as dividends from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company, and not $5.6 billion as claimed by the Goodluck Jonathan led PDP government, Premium Times reports.

The figure covers remittances due to have been paid to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which holds 49 per cent shareholding in the NLNG, on behalf of Nigeria.

The remaining equities are held by Shell and its Italian counterpart, Agip. Details below...

After weeks of being rebuffed by different government agencies and the NLNG, over requests for the details of the remittances to Nigeria, PREMIUM TIMES arrived at the figure based on an analysis of payments to Agip, exclusively sourced by the paper.

The investigations showed that the Federal Government, through the NNPC, earned $11.8 billion (about N2.5 trillion) as dividends from NLNG between 2004 and 2014.

Pioneer Status
The NLNG operated for at least 10 years under a controversial tax freedom holiday, called the pioneer status, which was granted by the Nigerian government. The incentive is usually given pioneer investors in new sectors of the economy to encourage more investments. In the case of NLNG, it was to trigger investment in gas.

Even with the tax relief, the government and other shareholders drew dividends from NLNG during the period, but the Nigerian authorities refused to provide details of how much was paid from 2004, under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

Controversy over the money started in June when the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, announced that it had uncovered that the NNPC failed to remit $11.6 billion paid by the NLNG.

NEITI urged President Muhammadu Buhari to recover the money.

In response, the NNPC spokesperson, Ohi Alegbe, said the matter had already been referred to the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) for reconcilia­tion and resolution.

“At the last meeting of IMTT, it was resolved that the Minister of Petroleum, Chairman of NEITI, Execu­tive Secretary of NEITI and the Group Managing Direc­tor of NNPC should meet on the issue of NLNG dividends and report back to IMTT.

“Unfortunately, that meet­ing has not held. However, another meeting of IMTT is coming up next week and the issue will be taken up from there. NEITI, as a member of IMTT, is aware of the ongo­ing efforts to reconcile and resolve the issue of NLNG dividend remittance,” Mr. Alegbe said in a statement June 10.

He did not confirm or deny the amount in question.

By July, nearly a month later, the new federal government said it was disbursing $2.1 billion out of the NLNG funds to cash-strapped state governments to enable them clear backlogs of salaries owed workers.

The distribution was the first time in Nigeria’s history. It is the first time that funds from NLNG would be shared between the federal and state governments.

The ruling All Progressives Congress accused the previous PDP government of diverting past remittances, an allegation denied by the PDP.

APC spokesperson, Lai Mohammed, said over $4 billion of the NLNG money was outstanding.

In its response on July 12, the PDP said the party’s previous administrations –from Obasanjo to Goodluck Jonathan— deserved praise than rebuke for saving the LNG funds for the new government.

The party’s spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, said since NLNG had been on a “10-year tax haven” (he probably meant tax holiday) until 2014, “successive governments, right from President Olusegun Obasanjo never shared nor tampered with the cumulative dividends over the years”.

He said as of May 29, when Mr. Jonathan left office, the NLNG dividend stood at a cumulative $5.6billion and “not a single cent was ever taken from the funds”.

Denials
Repeated attempts by PREMIUM TIMES to confirm that figure were rebuffed by all the relevant government agencies.

The Corporate Communications manager of NLNG, Tony Okonedo, said releasing the details to PREMIUM TIMES would amount to a breach of confidentiality.

“Any details on the dividends we (NLNG) paid to government, the best place to go is NNPC that received it. For us, we are very clear on what we paid,” he said.

The NNPC told PREMIUM TIMES that the corporation did not have any information on dividend payments by NLNG.

“Your best bet for such information would be NLNG, which made the payment,” Mr. Alegbe said.

Neither the NLNG nor the NNPC was forthcoming with information on their annual report and financial statements.

The ministry of finance and office of the accountant general also refused to provide details.

Eni to the rescue
Regardless, PREMIUM TIMES sourced Eni’s financial filings, and confirmed that the company received billions of dollars as its due of dividend since 2004.

Eni owns 10.4 percent of NLNG, while Nigeria holds 49 percent stake.

A review of Eni’s consolidated financial statements showed that the company received €2.319 billion ($2.5 billion) as total dividends billion between 2004 and 2014.

Eni received €72 million in 2004; €33 million in 2005, €56 million in 2006; and €131 million in 2007.

The company also earned €453 million in 2008; €101 million in 2009; €188 million in 2010; €483 million in 2011; €331 million for 2012; €224 million in 2013, and €247 million in 2014.

At 49 per cent, Nigeria’s dividend climbed to $11.8 billion. That is about N2.5 trillion.

The figure tallies with the $11.6 billion reported in the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) 2009-2012 Audit Report. The little difference might be as a result of fluctuating exchange rate.

Still, there is a discrepancy as previous reports show that the NLNG had announced in 2014 that it paid a total $13 billion as dividend to the government.

The firm’s managing director, Babs Omotowa, stated this when the company celebrated its 3,000th LNG export cargo in Abuja, in March.

He said Nigeria now owned $14 billion of assets on Bonny Island; $13 billion in dividends, another $11 billion earned in feed gas sales revenue, over $10 billion expenditure in local economy on goods, services and salaries of thousands of staff employed.

Obsessed Ronaldo fan spends thousands to look like him (photos)

 

That is obsessed fan Shanto Ronaldo from Denmark with his ultimate idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. Not only did Shanta adopt the surname Ronaldo, he's also spent thousands of dollars juet to look like Cristiano. The 17 year old has also started copying Ronaldo's fashion sense, including his hairstyle.

Shanta attends football matches and practices and then waits for hours outside just to get a glimpse of his hero. One day, he managed to take a photo with Ronaldo himself, who now knows him.

"My obsession for Cristiano is enormous. The reason I wanted to get a life like him is that he is rich, famous and living the life! I've met him for a couple of times and I can't explain such a fantastic person he is. I waited every day at the Real Madrid training ground from 9am to 2pm just to see him .Now, he knows me it means every time I go to Madrid I can meet him, which I am so proud of .I'm already planning my next trip which is very soon. He's not just my passion, but he motivates me. Some may think I'm crazy, but that's the way I am. People tell me, 'be yourself' but I cannot be myself more than I am now." he said