Governor Fashola Pays Boko Haram a Monthly Allowance

Fashola opened communications with agents of Boko Haram.
these millions is to stop the terrorist group from attacking Lagos.

I still can't believe this but I have always say this may happen oneday. God Help this country.......
 
COntinue Reading.......

 The State Security Services [SSS] in Lagos have kept a tight lip over recent activities of the Nigeria security agencies concerning the movement and detention of Boko Haram suspects and other Jihadist operatives.

Information available to 247ureports.com indicate that the SSS and the relevant security outfits have opted to move the many Jihadist suspects in their custody away from prisons and detention centers located in hotspots of northern Nigeria – to safer regions of the country – such as Lagos and other States in southern Nigeria where their destructive tentacles have yet to show a presence.

Recently over 80 arrested suspects of Boko Haram were transferred from the various detention centers where they were detained – to the Kirikiri correctional facility in Lagos.

A competent source who is close to the activity in Lagos Government House revealed that following the embarrassing ordeal of January 2012 in Kano State where Jihadists launched a simultaneous attacks on six police stations killing over 250 persons and setting free their men held police custody – the federal body of the SSS have remained concerned over properly securing the Jihadists suspects in their custody.

The Kano attack has since been exacerbated by the numerous attacks on detention centers scattered across the north western region of Nigeria – including the early morning attack at the SAR headquarters in Abuja in October 2012 where 25 of Jihadist suspects were released – and two police officers lost their lives in the process.

Our source points attention to the national security adviser’s chosen solution to abating the continuing increase in attacks – as a catch 22 quagmire. The NSA had issued instructions for gradual transfer of Jihadist suspects from northern detention centers to southern centers – without installing prohibitive security structure to counter the expected Jihadist reaction towards the new centers.

It is against this background that some State governors of southern States find themselves in a bind – as how to handle the potentially volatile situation. The Lagos State Governor, Barrister Fashola, a Muslim by religious faith, is reported to have his plate full by the recent transfer of Jihadist suspects to the Kirikiri Correctional Facility.

Our source indicated that Fashola finds himself in a precarious situation where he is forced to maintain a proactive posture -to avert the operatives of the Boko Haram from importing violence onto the streets of Lagos.

According to highly credible but unverified source, Fashola had since opened communications with agents of Boko Haram – to engage creatively. The source added that lines of communication between the two have led to fruitful outcome for the agents of Boko Haram. The Governor agreed to the monthly disbursement of an agreed amount of money to the Boko Haram as “stay away” money.

The financial agreement was reach with the breakaway group from the Shekau led Boko Haram. They had turned down the cease fire pronouncement by the Shekau led group.

The breakaway group, according to unverified reports, had reached final stages in the plan to strike heavily at the Kirikiri Correctional facility – till the lines of negotiation were opened. The group had intended to use the attack to show its reach and power.

Our source however cautioned that Fashola’s disbursement to the Jihadist may not mean all is well or that attack on Lagos has been averted. The agents of Boko Haram are believed to have momentarily postponed they attack plans to enable raise highly needed money from the Lagos Government. It is suspected will happen in due – if the suspects remain at Kirikiri.

In addition to the monthly disbursements, the Jihadists have laid other demands. They asked for the access of interrogation agents to their men be stopped. They do not want their men facing continued interrogation by the investigating security officers.

The monthly amount disbursed is not certain but our source discloses that amounts in excess of N25million have been remitted to the Jihadist. Calls pleased to the Chief Press Secretary and information managers for State Government – were not answered – and the text messages were not responded to. - 247ureports.com.

(PHOTO SPEAK) Lagbaja?

Members of a Boko Haram splinter group at a news conference in Maiduguri on Saturday

Lol..

FAREWELL TO GOLDIE HAS SHE WAS BURRIED THIS MORNING

The burial date was fixed after Andrew Harvey (Her husband) arrived the country, Saturday night.
No recording device will be allowed at the event as the family intends to “keep it as private as they can” .
The late singer passed on after complaining of a slight headache on Valentine’s day – she is survived by her Father, Step mum and five siblings. May her soul rest in peace!

FBI arrests Nigeria’s most wanted fraudster Tobechi Onwuhara in Australia

Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara

He owned a hip hop record label and he lived the high life of luxury hotels, gambling, strippers and bling. But behind the glitz and the glamour Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara was one of the FBI’s most wanted men, allegedly a fraudster who scammed at least $44 million through cyber crimes.
But the sophisticated con artist, who fled Florida in August 2008 amid an intense FBI investigation, has been caught in Sydney and sent back to the US to face a string of fraud charges.
Nigerian-born Tobechi Onwuhara, 33, was “provisionally arrested in response to a request from the United States Government” in December last year, according to a spokeswoman for the Australian Attorney-General’s department.
A spokeswoman for the AG’s department said Mr Onwuhara is to face prosecution in the US for fraud related offences, including identity fraud and computer fraud.
“On January 29, the Minister for Justice [Jason Clare] made a determination to surrender Mr Onwuhara to the US.
“As a matter of long standing practice, the Australian government does not comment on operational matters,” she said.
Fairfax Media understands Mr Onwuhara had been living it up in Sydney after disappearing in August 2008.
The FBI’s website now lists Mr Onwuhara as captured, but with scant detail of the arrest. They were offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
The source who tipped off Fairfax said Mr Onwuhara had been making regular trips to The Star casino as well as splashing cash at numerous popular nightclubs.
“He would bet at the Star under a different name, he was a regular, then one day he just disappeared and someone told us he his wanted by the FBI,” a source said.
A spokeswoman for Echo entertainment, owner of The Star, did not return calls and emails. The US Consulate in Sydney also did not return calls.
An Australian Federal Police spokesman confirmed the AFP arrested Mr Onwuhara.
According to the FBI’s most wanted list. Mr Onwuhara is wanted for his alleged involvement in an elaborate scheme that defrauded the financial industry out of tens of millions of dollars.
“Onwuhara is a key member of a group of Nigerians who allegedly have been conducting fraudulent banking activities from Florida and Texas, since 2005,” the FBI’s most wanted website states.
“It is alleged that the group has been using online internet databases to steal victims’ identities.
“Once acquired, they allegedly use the victims’ information to gain access to the victims’ ‘Home Equity Line of
Credit’ accounts and wire transfer the money to accounts mainly located overseas, some in the United States.”
Some of Onwuhara’s alleged co-conspirators have been arrested, inside and outside of the United States, the FBI’s website states.
Onwuhara was charged federally with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and a federal warrant was issued for his arrest by the US District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, on August 1, 2008.
Culled:  Mercy Johnson

I Want to be President Because Jonathan Signed That he Would Stay for one Term - Babangida

Governor of Niger State Babangida Aliyu has revealed of the existence of an agreement signed between President Goodluck Jonathan and some Northern governors in which Jonathan pledged to do only one term of four years from 2011 to 2015.

The governor said it was on the basis of that agreement that himself and some other Northern Governors, especially those of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party supported the President during the 2011 Presidential election, a decision that majority of the people of the region found offensive.

In an interview he granted Liberty FM which would be aired for the first time tomorrow, Governor Babangida Aliyu who is also the chairman of Northern Governors Forum (NGF) said he and others are with copies of the agreement which Jonathan duly signed, and in which he promised to do only one terms of four years.

The Hausa version of the Governor’s interview is billed to be aired between 11am to 12noon tomorrow while the English version would be on air by 12noon and would be on till 1pm.

The Governor said he and the other signatories of the agreement have no doubt that the President would keep the terms of the agreement. He added that President Jonathan has not told them that he will contest the 2015 Presidential election as is being speculated.

It would be recalled that Aliyu had declared his intention to seek the presidency on February 7th during the launch of The Accidental Public Servant, the controversial book by Nasir Elrufai.

Aliyu had said at that function that “I am not an accidental public servant; I have been preparing myself to be president, I am just not saying anything now,”

We Received $40,000 For Jonathan’s CNN Interview — US Firm

A United States-based communication firm, Fleishman-Hillard Inc, has admitted that it arranged a Cable News Network (CNN) interview for President Goodluck Jonathan for a fee, claiming, however, that it only received $40,000 and not the $60,000 as initially agreed, an online medium, the Premium Times, reports.
According to the online outfit, the US firm made this revelation in an email reply to its enquiries, adding that parts of planned “communication services”, including media interviews for the president in 2010, were later suspended, with equivalent $20,000 reduction in its fees.
According to the Premium Times, the development implies that for arranging one interview, the firm was paid $40,000. The online medium also claimed that the US firm did not state which media interview went through, but said the service was in support of Jonathan ’s trip to New York for the 2010 United Nations General Assembly.
“Due to urgent ad-hoc meetings held for the African nations at the 2010 UN General Assembly, the original services proposed were not able to be fully executed,” a Nigerian firm, Quadrant Company, representing Fleishman-Hillard, said in an e-mailed response to Premium Times.
The company said “planned media interviews and other services” for the president were cancelled with only one appointment rescheduled for a later date. As a result, Fleishman-Hillard fees were more than $20,000 less than those originally proposed,” the statement added.
But Premium Times reports that the US firm’s claim is inaccurate on the grounds of the documents in its possession. In one of the documents, Fleishman-Hillard informed its contact in the Nigerian presidency that although it was unable to get an interview for Jonathan in the United States, it succeeded in getting the CNN to interview the president in Nigeria.
The reaction followed an earlier report by the online medium on how the president paid thousands of dollars to agents for arranging interviews with foreign media outlet, a choice seen as wasteful and unnecessary.
Documents available to online outfit indicate that Fleishman-Hillard Inc anchored the deal with the Nigerian presidency through Enyi Odigbo, chairman of Lagos-based advertising and public relations company, Caesar’s Group.
In the bill, seen by Premium Times, the company requested $59, 200 from the Nigerian government for arranging an interview for President Jonathan with the CNN Nigerian affiliate in late 2010.
The interview, anchored by Isha Sesay, held in Aso Rock in Abuja on September 30, 2010, in preparation for the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Nigeria’s Independence.
Fleishman-Hillard was also to contact other foreign media outlets such as Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Reuters, as Mr. Jonathan planned at the time to announce his intention to run for president in 2011. The firm only delivered on the CNN interview.
A response, signed by Bolaji Okusaga, the managing director of Lagos-based The Quadrant Company, who is representing Fleishman-Hillard in Nigeria, said a part the contract awarded to the company was suspended “at the last minute” due to the exigency of time.
The company denied carrying out lobbying activities for the presidency, and said what it offered to the presidency was a “one-time assignment”.
“Fleishman-Hillard has not provided any service to the Office of the President since that time,” the firm said.
Since taking office early 2010, some of the president’s key decisions have been made public on foreign outlets, mainly the CNN.
Jonathan had delivered his first public comments on late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s health in an interview with CNN’s Christiana Amanpour in 2010, where he spoke of how the ailing president’s family blocked him from seeing him.

BREAKING NEWS Singer Goldie Harvey is dead.

 

This is very sad and shocking to me ....... She died 14 minutes ago at Reddington hospital in victoria Island.The singer who travelled to America for the just concluded Grammys arrived today and slumped after complaining of pains in the head What a shocking news. This sad to d Nigeria entertainment industry. more details Coming Soon.....

We played Brazil not Nigeria – Mali goalkeeper

Mali goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa compared their Wednesday’s opposition to five-time World Cup champions Brazil after they succumbed to a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the semi-finals of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Durban.


The 22-year-old, who plays for Guingamp in France, said they don’t deserve any blame for such a huge loss because they met a fire-spitting side that could have dismantled any team at the competition.
“I feel the team we played against was Brazil and not the Nigeria we used to know. From my post I was seeing more than 15 green shirts pouring forth against us and not the usual 10 players. They were strong, slippery, focused and pacy,” Samassa told Supersport.com here in South Africa.
“We did our best. We heeded our coach’s instructions but they fell below what was needed to stop the Super Eagles. They were winning all the balls, pursuing us mercilessly each time we had the ball and their finishing was always on target and that was their major advantage. They have forwards that can transform the slimmest goal chances.”
Mali will face Ghana in the third place match on Saturday February 9 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Both sides met in a similar situation last year at the Africa Cup of Nations held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, with the Eagles triumphing to claim bronze.

HIGHLIGHTS OF NIG. VS MALI YESTERDAY GAME

 

You are advice to watch on a 3G network

ENJOY!

Annie Macaulay/Tuface Idibia wedding date finally announced!

After much dilly-dallying, the much anticipated wedding date of the power couple Tuface Idibia and Annie Macaulay has been announced by the bride.
Annie went on twitter and tweeted

The wedding will hold on March 23, 2013, in Dubai.
Annie had earlier in the year, given everyone a hint of the venue by turning all attention on their case to Dubai after she posted pictures of herself on Instagram while holidaying at a resort in the rich midde-east country.

Annie Macaulay and Tuface

Investigations then also revealed that family and friends would be flown on a special chartered plane to the strictly by invitation wedding and lodged in luxurious hotels in Dubai.
What no one knew then was the date.
Tuface warned right from the beginning that his dealings with Annie would be very secret. His traditional marriage almost passed un-noticed and he is trying to (if not succeeded) in doing the same with his white wedding.
source:Vanguard

EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan spends $60,000 to arrange CNN interview

President Goodluck Jonathan’s penchant for foreign media has fetched him criticism, with citizens often bashing him for what they consider his unpresidential poise and bad grammar.

As the dust over President Goodluck Jonathan’s embarrassing outing in a recent CNN interview is yet to settle, PREMIUM TIMES can report that the presidency actually spends thousands of dollars in public funds to arrange interviews with foreign media outlets.

Mr. Jonathan’s penchant for foreign media has fetched him criticism, with citizens often bashing him for what they consider his unpresidential poise and bad grammar on camera.

Commentators on social media ranked his performance in the interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour two weeks ago amongst the president’s worst yet.

While this newspaper is unable to determine how much was spent in procuring the late January  CNN and Aljazeera interviews with Mr. Jonathan, we are in possession of documents suggesting that the presidency has retained the services of an American lobbying firm, Fleshman-Hillard Inc. to help arrange these interviews.

The firm, which reports to the presidency through Enyi Odigbo, Chairman of Lagos-based advertising and public relations company, Caser’s Group, was hired in 2010, without any formal agreement and budget.

The lobbying firm submits bills to the presidency as it pleases.

In at least one of its bills seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the company requested $59, 200 from the Nigerian government for arranging an interview for President Jonathan with the CNN Nigerian affiliate in late 2010.

The interview, anchored by Isha Sesay, held in Aso Rock in Abuja on September 30, 2010, in preparation for the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Nigeria Independence.

Fleshman-Hillard was also to contact other foreign media outlets such as Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Reuters as Mr. Jonathan planned at the time to announce his intention to run for president in the 2011 presidential election.

But the firm was only able to deliver on the CNN interview. It was unable to get interviews for the president on the other platforms.

It is not known why the President needed to hire a lobbyist to procure interviews for him even when he has a Reuben Abati, a Doyin Okupe, and a Reno Omokri among his numerous media aides.

Since taking office in early 2010, some of the president’s key decisions and pronouncements have been made public via foreign outlets, mainly the CNN.

Mr. Jonathan delivered his first public comments on late President Umaru Yar’ Adua’s health, in an interview with Ms. Amanpour in 2010, where he spoke of how the ailing president’s family blocked him from seeing Mr. Yar’adua.

He would not force himself to see Mr. Yar’adua, he said at the time.

Regardless of the channel through which he opened up, the interview was well-received as the president also spoke on governance, promising improved electricity supply (which he enjoys calling POWER) and security.

Mr. Jonathan has yet to grant exclusive interviews to Nigerian channels. The closest to that is the occasional presidential media chat on the state-run Nigerian Television Authority.

But the president’s preference for the foreign networks has not gone without knocks, with critics often rebuking him for his unassertive demeanor before the camera, and poor quality responses to questions.

Critics say the last interview was even worse.

Fleshman-Hillard was also mandated to hire a trainer to work on the president, to help improve his delivery. The firm was yet to deliver on that as at the time the document seen by this newspaper was filed.

A presidency source said the presidency has continued to retain the company for the foreign interview arrangement.

But Fleshman-Hillard could not be reached for comments Friday. Sarah Vellozi, who was the company’s contact for the project was not available on her desk the two times PREMIUM TIMES called her New York office. She is yet to return the calls.

Presidential spokesperson could not also be reached for comments.