February 2017

February 27, 2017 1
Two Chinese, Tanlong Shen and Xu Jing Yao, have been arrested by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, for importing substandard tyres believed to be worth over N5billion.

This was made known by the SON Director General, Osita Aboloma, as he led journalists on a tour of the warehouse in Satellite Town, Lagos, where two million imported substandard tyres were seen.


The Chinese reportedly import the tyres into the country through means that compromise their quality, thereby churning out weak, substandard tyres which endanger the lives of people.

Not only were the tyres of poor quality, their manufacturing dates were also post-dated to make them appear new and road worthy. It was revealed that the Chinese distributed fake tyres under different brand names like; Grandsonte, City Tour, Duraturn, Aptany, Powertrac, City Grand, Bearway and more.


The Chinese were apprehended with the aid of intelligence received from well meaning Nigerians, which helped the SON Directorate of Compliance to intercept one of the trucks belonging to the Chinese and track it to lead them to the rest.

While speaking to journalists, Aboloma said;

“We acted on the intelligence we received from well meaning Nigerians. This was achieved as a result of inter-agency collaboration. The glory is not for SON alone.

"You can see volume of tyres brought in and you can imagine the implication for our society if these tyres are let into the market.”

Just last year, the FRSC reported that the use of fake and expired tyres is responsible for more than 3,000 road traffic accidents that occurred in the last five years, with vehicle owners and drivers caught with expired tyres. At the time, the Assistant Corps Marshal in charge of Policy, Research and Statistics, Dr. Kayode Olagunju, had spoken on the dangers of using substandard tyres, saying;

“Only the lucky ones are arrested by road marshals, but only the unlucky ones are arrested by road accidents.”
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February 27, 2017
Officials of the State Security Service SSS, says it has recovered a cache of guns and magazines in a property allegedly belonging to former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, after conducting a search on the property on February 24th.
 In a statement signed by one Tony Opuiyo and released yesterday, the SSS said the property that was searched is located at the Maitama area of Abuja. The building which is being used by a firm named Dunes Investment and Global Properties Ltd, was traced to the former governor.

Suswam was subsequently invited and has been helping the agency in its investigation.

According to the statement, items said to have been recovered from the property included  Glock pistol with two magazines and a total of 29 rounds of ammunition, Mini-Uzi with two magazines containing 10 rounds and four rounds respectively; forty-two (42) extra rounds of ammunition contained in a pack; and one AK-47 rifle. Also recovered from the property are twenty-one Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) and one (1) Offer of Statutory Right of Occupancy; 23 luxury designer watches; and 45 keys to various exotic cars were also said to have been recovered from the property.

All the items were recovered from a Mercedes Benz S550 with registration number: BWR 135AH; and a Maserati 4.7 with registration number: BWR 207 AJ.
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February 27, 2017
The United Kingdom will begin the trial of former Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, and four others  in London, in June 2017, over allegations of corruption and money laundering.

Diezani who has been in the UK since 2015, is alleged to have stashed in the UK, proceeds from corrupt practices she got while in office. 
The National Crime Agency, a national law enforcement and police agency in the United Kingdom.(NCA), on October 2nd 2015 arrested Alison-Madueke and four others including her brothers, for alleged bribery and corruption and money laundering.

According to The Nation, a source at EFCC says one of the suspects to be tried alongside the former minister was recently found at a hideout in London. The source denied cliams in some quarters that the antigraft agency was in a secret negotiation with her.
“The UK investigators have gone far on the allegations against Diezani. From the records made available, the ex-minister and four others will face trial as from June. We have taken more evidence to the UK, including all court records relating to the final forfeiture of $153million. We have a huge pile of documents. In fact, one of the suspects on the radar of investigators has been located in London and he is under surveillance.”
Addressing claims of a negotiation between the agency and the former Minister, the source said 
“There is no basis to negotiate with the ex-Minister in view of the overwhelming evidence at our disposal. You should ask yourself what purpose the negotiation will serve. The EFCC is set for the trial of the ex-minister at home and abroad. It is curious to be talking of a curious negotiation with someone who has a prima facie case to answer. The ex-minister has forfeited $153m; we have had far-reaching investigation on her involvement in the $115m poll bribery scandal; we have seized some of her choice properties and she has consistently maintained that she is ready for trial. So, what is the basis for negotiation when we have a good case?”
Messrs Abiye Agama and Somye Agama are Mrs Alison-Madueke siblings who operate some UK-based businesses hurriedly shut them after the NCA and the EFCC searchlight became intense.

The two brothers are directors of Hadley Petroleum Solutions Limited, a company the authorities believe was  used for money laundering. The other directors are Ugonna Madueke and Abu Fari.

The company was registered in June 2013 in Manchester, but was dissolved less than two years later last  February without filing any account.

Abiye, 33, a point man of the firm, is a computer engineer and manager. He was a director in 11 other companies. He resigned from seven of them.

According to EFCC records, some of the assets  linked with Mrs. Alison-Madueke are:

    A block of six units service apartments on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi
    Six units terrace flats in Yaba, Lagos Mainland
    Twin four-bedroom duplexes in Lekki Phase I
    Two duplexes on Banana Island
    A duplex in Asokoro District, Abuja
    A mini-estate in Mabushi, Abuja
    A set of 12 terrace duplexes at Omaremi Street  in Port Harcourt
    Large expanse of land at Oniru, Victoria Island in Lagos
    A multi-billion Naira estate in Yenagoa
    Two apartments in Dubai marked as J5 Emirates Hills (30million Dirham) and  E146 Emirates Hills valued at 44million Dirham
    A hotel in Port Harcourt under investigation
    $37.5m mansion on Banana Island in Lagos.

But Alison-Madueke had disputed some of the slush funds and assets  attributed to her including the $153million.

In a statement she released, Diezani maintained that the $153 million recently seized was her personal money and that she can and will never steal form the Nigerian government
“I have up till now chosen to maintain my silence and not to respond to inaccurate press reporting. However, given the level of deliberate inaccuracies, I am now forced to respond because it is clear that the EFCC is taking advantage of my silence to try me by media and to convict me in the eyes of the public on false reports. First and foremost, whilst the reasons for my being out of the country are public knowledge, the principle of fair hearing demands that I should have been notified of formal charges if truly there was a prima facie evidence or indictment against my person linking me with the said issue, so as to ensure that I had adequate legal representation. This was never done. I wish to state that I cannot forfeit what was never mine. I do not know the basis on which the EFCC has chosen to say that I am the owner of these funds as no evidence was provided to me before the order was obtained and they have not in fact served me with the order or, any evidence since they obtained it. I do not therefore, understand how the EFCC can in the same breath say that the monies in question are mine. If they had evidence that the monies were mine then they would not /should not, have used the procedure which applies only to funds of unknown ownership. If indeed they used this particular legal procedure because they did not know who owned the monies, then how can they now be falsely attributing the ownership to me. Let me re-state categorically as I have always maintained, for the record, I have not and will never steal money from or defraud the Federal Government of Nigeria.  I am willing to respond to any charges brought against me that follow duly laid down procedures. 
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February 22, 2017
The former president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan has denied reports that he endorsed Ali Modu Sheriff as the National Chairman of PDP. Sheriff paid the former president a visit two days ago, causing speculations that the former president is in support of Sheriff's leadership.

Some media houses even reported that Jonathan had openly declared his support for the leadership of Sheriff. However in a swift reaction, Jonathan yesterday issued a statement denying this claim.


The statement signed by his media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze reads
“The issue of endorsement never came up in the course of the visit, not at the closed door session with Sheriff nor during the former President’s interview with newsmen". According to Eze, Jonathan never referred to Sheriff as the party's chairman during the visit but only addressed Sheriff as “my chairman” The statement reads in part “Indeed, it may interest you to know that after meeting with Sheriff, the former President also met with Senator Ahmed Makarfi, leader of the PDP Caretaker Committee, and the party’s Board of Trustees chairman, Senator Walid Jubril, later in the evening. I wish to let those spinning this falsehood know that it just doesn’t add up to fly a contrived banner of endorsement in one breath, and in another, concede that the former President explained his commitment in meeting with different interest groups, towards resolving the differences in the party. For the avoidance of doubt, the following are the former President’s exact words during the interview with newsmen, as had accurately been reported by most online and major national newspapers, as well as broadcast organisations”. The statement quoted Jonathan’s words after meeting with Sheriff “We (PDP) are not factionalised. We are one. We are solving our problems. There are bound to be differences in politics. It is the way we resolve these differences that make us human beings and that is what makes us leaders. I have met with Sheriff. And I have met with others. I will still meet with others, so that we will be able to do what is expected of us as a political party”.
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February 22, 2017
The National Orientation Agency NOA has appealed to Nigerians to desist from referring Nigeria as "Naija. Director General of the agency, Garba Abari, made the appeal when he spoke at a news conference in Abuja yesterday. According to him, it is becoming worrisome that some Nigerians are changing the original name of Nigeria.


He said"
“We try in all our advocacy visits to insist that Nigeria must be referred to as Nigeria and not Naija. So, our schools have a role to play in this. The media itself has also got a very fundamental role to play because it is the media that helps in the propagation of this kind of misnomer. All of us, as individuals, as corporate organisations, as media, whether broadcast, print or online, must wake up to the reality. That the more we use these misnomers referring to our country, the fallout of it is that, a significant percentage of our younger ones will not even remember that Nigeria is the original name of our country. I want to appeal to all Nigerians, young and old to always refer to our country as Nigeria"
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February 22, 2017
About a week ago, 7 persons were kidnapped in the Igbodu area of Epe, Lagos. Lagos State Police PRO, Dolapo Badmus confirms to LIB today that the kidnapped persons were able to escape today when members of the Lagos police force and the kidnappers faced off in a gun battle in the area.

She confirmed that no casualty was recorded on the side of the policemen but some of the kidnappers got injured before they escaped into the creeks.

Source from LIB
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February 21, 2017


Adakole, the groom-to-be who drank insecticide last December after MMM froze users' accounts, has died from stomach complications resulting from the poison he took last year.

Adakole had reportedly invested N300,000 meant for his wedding into the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox Ponzi scheme, however, only two weeks to his wedding, the scheme crashed, causing Adakole to make an attempt on his life.

Attempts to save him seemed successful until yesterday, Adakole succumbed to internal complications and died in Abuja. A family source revealed to Daily Post that Adakole passed away on Monday evening.

“Yes, he died this evening. His body has been deposited at the mortuary as we speak,” Adakole reportedly made efforts to reclaim his money after MMM resumed but he was not successful. “No, he was not paid. In fact, he threatened to arrest his guider before the stomach upset returned last week and we rushed him to the hospital where he finally died. I don’t even think MMM is back, if not Adakole would have been the first they would consider. We attempted to reach them to recover Adakole’s money but they kept telling us to provide help to get help; obviously, the scheme has crashed, ” the family source said.

Adakole's family members and especially his fiance, Chenemi, are reportedly inconsolable. They had begun to hope that he would survive and a wedding date had been fixed for a later day before he passed on Monday
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February 17, 2017
During the assessment of Governor Udom Emmanuel 20 months’ strides in delivering good governance and dividends of democracy in Akwa Ibom State, the Honourable Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Charles Udoh engaged the new media community in Akwa Ibom with a world-class tactical managerial feedback strategy and interactive session with the public...



 In his opening remark, Mr. Charles Udoh noted that the fora was essential, considering the e- governance model of Governor Udom Emmanuel as it delivered a needs assessment analysis of the 2017 Blueprint of the Akwa Ibom State Government.

 He revealed that as part of the state government’s strategy to re-orientate the people to become self-reliant, a social innovation project called ‘Hire A Workman’ is embarked upon. ‘Hire a Workman’ is an online job board that will inform and engage the creative minds of Young creatives as well as create more job opportunities for the teeming youths.

 He further revealed that via the web portal anyone can hire a workman in Akwa Ibom, post a job, find job vacancies, promote their portfolio and create wealth for themselves in overall terms.

 The new media aide to Governor Udom Emmanuel Mrs MefLyn Anwana thanked the Governor for opening up the digital space in the state, while noting that Akwa Ibom State has in the past 20 months been on the raider and viable as a thriving digital ecosystem whose young creatives contribute to the digital economy of Nigeria

 The event had in participatory attendance the Special Assistant to the Governor on Electronic media Mr Sampson Akpan, Special Assistant to the Governor on Media Mr Essien Ndueso, Mr Aniekeme Finbarr and the ICT aide to the Governor Mr Solomon Eyo

 Bloggers, journalists, PR experts, techies and a cross section of Students from across the state were on hand to engage interaction while citizens joined the conversation on several social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google etc

 Web Analytics showed an impressive feedback from followers of Governor Udom Emmanuel, Akwa Ibom indigenes both at home and in the diaspora, foreign investors, Nigerians from the political divide, local investors and youth groups.

More photos below...






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February 17, 2017
Three persons were confirmed dead, 23 injured on Friday morning, February 17th, when a luxurious bus plunged into canal at Owode Elede, Ikorodu Road

A statement issued by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency says the Luxurious bus with registration number Anambra GDD 386 YE belonging to GUO Transport Service Co. LTD was gathered to be enroute Maza Maza from Aba, Abia State.
According to preliminary investigations conducted at the incident scene.The luxurious bus was said to have skidded off its track while on top speed and plunged into the Canal at Owode Elede, before Mile 12. Ikorodu Road.

The bus with 59 passengers on board had 23 people injured and were treated on the spot by a joint team of LASEMA Paramedics and LASAMBUS, 9 out of the treated victims were taken to the Lagos State Trauma Centre at the Toll Gate for further treatment, while 2 adult male and 1 female which include the motor boy were recovered dead from the Canal. The 3 dead bodies, accidented bus and their belongings were handed over to the men of the Nigeria Police, Owode Division.

The Agency recovered the accidented vehicle with the aid of its heavy duty equipment Crain from the Canal and towed it off the road to ensure free flow of traffic.The response and recovery operations was coordinated by LASEMA in conjunction with LASTMA, LASAMBUS, Lagos State Fire Service, RRS, Task Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, FRSC, NEMA amongst others.

The General Manager Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu affirmed that a proper investigation would be conducted on the incident. He however advised motorist to be safety conscious and avoid excessive speeding while driving especially when embarking on night journey.

 More photos below...












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February 17, 2017

 The governor of borno state ,  Kashim Shettima, this afternoon, visited the scene of the multiple bomb attacks at Mafa local government area in Borno state last night. While at the scene, he commended the military for repelling the attacks. He also paid a visit on some of the injured victims currently receiving medical treatments at the state general hospital. See more photos after the cut...









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February 17, 2017
This Morning on TVC', Mr Femi Adesina,, Special Adviser on Media & Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, responded to those who doubt the authenticity of the photos of Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara when they visited President Buhari in London, by calling them haters of the president.  He said:

‘Mr. President will not speak to Nigerians because he has the ‘right to his vacation, we don’t need to intrude. 
‘Buhari has his right to his vacation; if Buhari will speak to Nigerians, it will be his choice, his prerogative, we don’t need to intrude. What some people want to do is to ram it dawn his throat… it is a point of principle that Buhari is not speaking to Nigerians.’ 
‘It is a matter of opinion and they are welcome to their opinion as there are some people who don’t want to believe the words of others and no matter what you say or do you have not done it well, hence you leave them to their opinion.’ 
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February 17, 2017
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned one Bashir  Ishaq Bashir alongside his companies, Leda Greenpower Consortium, Leda Greenpower Nigeria Limited and Leda Consortium Limited before Justice S.E. Aladetoyinbo of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court, Maitama, on a three-count charge of obtaining by false pretence and cheating to the tune of $1 million.

Bashir was alleged to have collected the said sum as part payment of a $3 million agreement from Althani Investments Company Limited for the purpose of forming a consortium to bid for shares at the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company. The bidding failed and several attempts made by the company for a refund of the money proved abortive.


He pleaded "not guilty" to the charges when they were read to him.

Prosecution counsel, Rimamsomte Ezekiel, thereafter asked for a trial date.

Responding, counsel for the defendant, A.B. Anachebe, SAN, moved the motion for his bail application.
Ezekiel opposed the application, arguing that "the defendant if granted bail will interfere with prosecution witnesses". He further argued that the application was not proper in the sense that the defence only mentioned the name of the first defendant without reference to the second, third and fourth defendants.

Justice Aladetoyinbo, while adjourning to April 10, 2017 for hearing granted him bail in the sum of N2 million and one surety in like some. The surety must be resident in Abuja and must have a landed property.
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