Tribunal: Rivers APC Accuses Wike of 10bn Bribe Intent

The All Progressives Congress, Rivers State Chapter, has accused Governor Nyesom Wike of plotting to bribe tribunal judges with N10 billion.

In a statement issued by Chris Finebone, the Rivers State Publicity Secretary of the APC, he said the alleged move was as a result of the PDP’s poor showing in the tribunal sitting in Abuja.

According to the statement, “Following a spate of recent negative outcomes for the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the various Election Petition Tribunals sitting in Abuja, the Governor has commenced negotiations to borrow a whopping N10 billion from Zenith Bank PLC for the sole purpose of bribing judges of the Tribunals, Appeal Courts amongst others.

“To date, the Governor has collected a total of about N100 billion comprising Federal allocations, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), balance in the Reserve Fund and other sundry sums left in the State’s various accounts with the banks by 29th May.

“The aforementioned sum is exclusive of the earlier N30 billion obtained from banks by the governor since he assumed office. In sum total, about N130 billion has passed through the hands of the governor in 3 months with only a few projects of his predecessor he is completing and some cosmetic asphalting and pothole filling of some streets to show for it. If he borrows additional N10 billion from Zenith Bank as he has already decided to do, Rivers people and our next generation shall have been enslaved further to the tune of N40 billion as loan before the tribunal shows the governor the way out of Government House, Port Harcourt.

“Indeed, the APC is saddened at the carte blanche Nyesom Wike has handed to himself to recklessly borrow in the name of the people without consideration for the present and future generations of Rivers people.”

He added that “With the Governor as Commissioner for Works, Due Process Office and Site Engineer all rolled into one, the world can better imagine the big scam going on in Rivers State by a master underhand deal-maker as Governor.

“But most worrisome to the APC is the fact that information available to us indicates that the Governor made up his mind to borrow the N10 billion from Zenith Bank which he will keep exclusively to bribe judges every step of the way especially now that news coming to the Governor from the tribunals sitting in Abuja is not that cheery to his ears.

“We recall that his earlier attempt to approach the Chief Justice of Nigeria [CJN] with a view to compromising the latter ended in fiasco as the APC exposed his antics before he could get close to the revered CJN.

“After that unpalatable incident, we believed [though wrongly] that his disastrous experience with the CJN would have taught him a lesson but from what we now know, Nyesom Wike has learnt nothing from the CJN debacle as he has since devised other means of compromising some of the men of the hallowed realm. Our happiness is that some of the judges place premium on their reputation and name and care little about the filthy lucre the Governor dangles at them.

“The APC will not forget that Nyesom Wike prides in his ability to compromise any living being as long as the person has a price. He boasts of his escapades with men of the judiciary; cavorts with court registrars, clerks and even bailiffs. We are sure he believes that he is the best at his game the way late Pablo Escobar saw himself in exaggerated terms in Colombia as a drug warlord. But there is always one mountain too high to climb for mortal man.

“Therefore, the APC would like to appeal to well-meaning Rivers elders and leaders-of-thought to prevail on Gov. Nyesom Wike against incessant and needless high-interest borrowing he has embarked on for his selfish desires as this has catastrophic outcome for the future of our people and generations yet unborn.”

Primary Source: Daily  Post

250 Million Fake Phones Sold In Nigeria Per Year. NCC

The Nigerian Telecommunications Commission yesterday disclosed that about 250 million substandard phones were sold annually in the country.

The acting Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who gave the figure during a stake holders meeting on ‘ Combating Counterfeit and Substandard ICT Devices Programme in Abuja, noted that the damaging impact of the substandard products on the economy cannot be quantified in socio-economic terms.

Specifically, he lamented the damaging effects of the products on a broad spectrum of the national life, saying that the ugly development poses grave danger to the health, safety and privacy of buyers and the nation’s environment.

He said” counterfeiting is a growing economic problem affecting a wide range of products in the ICT sector, mobile phones are especially targeted with some 250 million counterfeits sold annually. This number constitutes about 15% to 20% of the global mobile phone market.

“Apart from the obvious negative economic impact of this ugly trend on the manufacturers of genuine products, government, authorized dealers which include brand evaluation, loss of revenue, copyright and trademark infringement, unfair competition, loss of tax, cost of compliance with applicable national legislation, national security and loss of employment opportunities.

“This menace also poses danger to the health and safety of consumers equally breaching the privacy of consumers. Collective efforts is urgently needed to curtail counterfeiting in ICT,” Danbatta added.

Also speaking, director EMEA Mobile Manufacturers Forum, Thomas Barmuller, stressed the need to address counterfeit phones due to the hazardous substances which he said were not only a risk to safety, health and economic development,, but was a tool used for transmission of deadly viruses.

According to him, investigations has shown that the incidence of malware, spyware and SMS Trojans has increased dramatically especially with the usage of fake smart phones.

He however called for increased consumer education through communication strategy both at the national and regional levels, to create awareness on the negative effects of counterfeit phones so as to enable consumers, manufacturers and operators link to a trustworthy source.

He added that, “it is necessary to work with stake holders to address the situation by developing communication campaigns, build awareness and support reforms in key markets.”

News Source : Nigerian  Mirror

Why Sound City Stopped Airing P-Square's Songs

Nigerian cable and terrestrial music channel, Soundcity, has cleared the air on why it stopped airing videos by Nigeria’s pop twins, P-Square, since January this year.

The television channel was responding to an outburst by Peter Okoye, one half of the group, to a fan on Twitter who had complained about the lack of P-Square videos on Soundcity TV.

“Don’t waste ur time dear… They will not play them … Pls keep watching Trace TV, Mtvbase, HipTv n Afropop. Thanks,” Peter Okoye had responded to the fan via his Twitter handle on Thursday.

But in a statement titled, “What has Soundcity ever done for P-Square?” the urban music channel said the decision to stop airing the pop duo’s music videos‎ was due to their failure to attend to one of their events, last year.

“For 10 years, @SoundcityTV has been a huge supporter of #PSquare brand, right from their 1st music video to the last video released in 2014. Most of their videos got massive airplay on @SoundcityTV than any other music channel,” the TV station said in the statement published on its website.

The statement noted that the station had assisted the P-Square brand, toured with them all over Africa at their own expense, given them ad-spots for their events as well as prime time slots for their videos.

“We invited #PSquare to one of our annual events last December 2014 and they insisted we pay a certain amount of money,” the statement continued.

“We reasonably asked, what is the least we can offer? This was us foregoing the fact that we had invested a lot in #PSquare’s career as music talents/artistes and entertainers.

“The feedback was ‘What has Soundcity ever done for P-Square? Tell me one thing Soundcity has ever done for PSquare’ (Jude Okoye, Manager).

“While we understand that this is business, there is also room for special consideration. Saying our TV brand has never done anything for #Psquare was quite damning. Clearly, there was no need to argue with their decision.

“We decided to stop doing anything with/for #PSquare, since our 10 years of supporting the group meant nothing to them. We assumed our relationship was a mutually beneficial one, but clearly one-sided.

“Ultimately, #PSquare music videos stopped airing on @SoundcityTV since January 01, 2015. Soundcity reserves the right to air music videos on our cable/satellite or terrestrial platforms.”

Sourced from  Premium Times  News

Prophet Tricks Nurse to Sex

A self-styled prophet, Muyiwa Adesoye, has been arrested and charged before a Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ejigbo for allegedly deceiving a 17-year-old auxiliary nurse in order to have sex with her in Lagos State, western Nigeria.

Akure, Ondo State-born Adesoye allegedly prophesied to the victim (name withheld) that she had spiritual husband who usually had sex with her in the night which had hindered her progress in her career.

Adesoye, who resides at 35, Adedayo street, Abaranje in Ikotun area, informed her that she needed to be delivered through prayers so that her future will be brighter.

He also informed her that such prayer and deliverance involved him having sex with her in order to anoint her private part.

Adesoye also allegedly told her that she would pay him N25,000 for him to embark on the prayer and warned her to do so to avoid further threat to her future.

The victim accepted and allegedly paid the money and gave him her two phones and a gift.

P.M.NEWS gathered that Muyiwa took the young nurse to a popular hotel located at Abule Odu in Egbeda area and had sex with her several times.

After the sex romp, Adesoye allegedly gave her soap to use to take her bath everyday.

After the victim, who was introduced to Adesoye by her friend realised that she had been conned, she told her parents what happened and the matter was reported to the police at Area ‘M’ Command, Idimu.

Adesoye was arrested and charged to court with obtaining sex, unlawful carnal knowledge under false pretence and stealing under the Criminal Code.

He pleaded not guilty and the presiding Magistrate, Mrs J. O. E. Adeyemi granted him bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.

The court ordered that one of the sureties must be a land owner and show affidavit of means.

He was remanded in prison custody at Kirikiri pending when he will perfect his bail condition.

The matter was adjourned till 21 September, 2015.

Primary Source: http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/09/10/fake-prophet-cons-lagos-nurse-for-sex/

Police Releases List Of Authorised Siren Users

The Nigeria Police Force on Tuesday, September 8, 2015 released a list of persons authorized to make use of sirens.

While briefing newsmen, the Spokesperson of the force, Olabisi Kolawole said the the authorized persons are:

The President, Muhammadu Buhari

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo

The Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki

The Speaker of the Federal, Honourable Yakubu Dogara

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu

The Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun

The 36 State Governors

All Service Chiefs

The Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase

General Officers Commanding

Deputy Inspectors-General of Police

Assistant Inspectors-General of police

Commissioners of Police.

Kolawole said that the police would not hesitate to arrest and prosecute defaulters.

She said: “The police will not relent in their effort to carry out their duty. We will still go by the Federal government circular in implementing the directive”

She further reminded motorists to make use of the whistle-blowing platform to report police personnel who engage is extortion

“We are saying that if people were paying before they should not do that any longer,” she added.

News  Credit :Nairaland

Benue State Governor Begs for Patience as He Marks 100 Days in Office

Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue has appealed for patience as his administration strives to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people of the state.

Ortom, who made the appeal when he marked his first 100 days in office in Makurdi on Wednesday, said he would sustain all viable projects started by his predecessor.

He said government was a continuum, but expressed regrets that the previous administration clogged the joint transition committee set up to coordinate the transition programme.

The governor said the former administration frustrated the committee’s efforts by denying them access to information on the financial status of the state to determine its true indebtedness.

He said no matter the indebtedness of the state, he was determined to improve on the peoples’ wellbeing by ensuring prompt payment of salaries and the provision of social security.

He said the state had processed the bailout loan, and would soon receive N28 billion bonds at low interest rate and payable within 20 years.

He said he intended to use the money for the payment of primary school teachers and deploy a sizable chunk to critical sectors of the economy while also exploring other areas to generate income.

He said the state also planned to carry out a staff audit to determine the actual number of its workforce, stressing that the current monthly wage bill of about N3.7 billion was unacceptable.

Ortom said his administration also reclaimed the accreditation of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Makurdi, withdrawn three years ago on account of dilapidated infrastructures.

“This administrations considers the school of nursing very critical to our programme, this is one institution that in an era of unemployment, already has a ready market for its graduates.

“For the past three years, it never admitted new students owing to the withdrawal of accreditation, since our assumption of office, we have already sunk in N200 million for the upgrading of facilities.’’

Ortom disclosed that his administration had earmarked varying sums ranging from N500 million and N300 million for the rehabilitation of Makurdi/Gbajimba Road and the completion of the state House of Assembly complex, respectively.

The governor also pointed out that his administration had subsidised the sale of fertiliser and eliminated the role of middlemen in its procurement to enable farmers buy at controlled price.

On arms recovery and his amnesty programme, the governor said the programme was on course.

“We have recovered several illegal assorted arms from militia leaders in the state, the biggest being that from Terwase Agwaza otherwise called Ghana, who surrendered 84 different weapons.

“Following the meeting we had with him, I have extended the amnesty programme till the end of September after which I will pursue those who are still harboring arms,’’ he said.

He assured that the amnesty programme would never be mortgaged and arms returnees would be reintegrated into society through training and other vocation designed to make them useful members of society.

Ortom further said the administration succeeded in ending the persistent border skirmishes with other states through dialogue, including the use of other peaceful engagements.

According to him, the efforts are a foundation for a better state.

Ortom, who said he was not averse to criticisms, however, warned that such criticisms should respect the sensibilities of others. (NAN)

News Credit: Leadership  News

Senate Begins Probe of Power Sectors

The Senate will on tuesday begin investigation into alleged unwholesome practices in the power sector from 1999 till date.

The probe is to be carried out by an Ad-hoc Committee on Power, inaugurated by Senate President, Bukola Saraki on August 28.

The committee is chaired by Abubakar Kyari (APC, Borno North).

In a statement on Monday, Clerk of the Committee, Cletus Ojabo, said the probe would take the form of investigative hearing/interactive session with stakeholders in the power sector.

According to the statement: “The investigation will centre on funds appropriated for the power sector since 1999 to the point of unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and all matters connected therewith.”