Another plane may crash – PROPHECY (Sunnews)

Date: 

Sat, 06/30/2012 - 22:28

Nigerians may witness another plane crash this year if they don’t seek the face of God. A cleric, Bishop John Obiokeke revealed this recently while bemoaning the neglect and disdain with which the government treated victims of Dana plane crash.

He regretted that the crash happened even after he had revealed the mind of God concerning an imminent plane crash on December 31, 2011.

Obiokeke noted that God has led him to prophesy in the 256 Major Global Prophecies on the eve of the New Year that “some Nigerian private planes will have problems this year, some will crash into homes and kill people.


This he recorded in the book on page 17, number 205. Also on number 48, Obiokeke emphasized that ‘an aeroplane painted red, blue and white will crash this year. Pray that this doesn’t come to pass’ According to the Bishop, every year God reveals to him major global events, adding that Nigerians have continued to suffer this fate as a result of the negligence and disdain with which successive governments and those in authority treat the things of God.


He reasoned that since government lacks the necessary equipment to undertake meaningful search and rescue operation it behooves on the authority to seek the face of God to avert such ugly incidents.

Jonanthan/Sambo’s assets: Our hands are tied – CCB ( Punchng)

The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Mr. Sam Saba, has said the constitution bars the bureau from making public the asset declaration forms of President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

He said this in an interview in Abuja, on Friday.

He said the National Assembly had yet to provide the required guidelines to enable individuals or corporate entities to have access to such documents.

Saba explained that the provision of the Freedom of Information Act was in conflict with Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (As amended).

“If you check the Third Schedule, Part 1, Section 3 (c), it did not say it (asset declaration forms) should be made available to anybody.

“It says the National Assembly shall have that responsibility to draw up guidelines that will enable members of the public to have access to such declarations.

“The guidelines for that have not been done till today. So long as it has not been done till today, you cannot have access to it. And that is just the key.”

Paragraph 3, Part I of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, provides, “The Code of Conduct Bureau shall have power to: (a) receive declarations by public officers made under paragraph 12 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to this Constitution; (b) examine the declarations in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct or any law; (c) retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe.”

Paragraph 11 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution provides that: (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every public officer shall within three months after the coming into force of this Code of Conduct or immediately after taking office and thereafter — (a) at the end of every four years; and (b) at the end of his term of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of all his properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his unmarried children under the age of 18 years.”

However, Section 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, states, “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, Law or Regulation, the right of any person to access or request information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency or institution howsoever described, is hereby established.”

The media is basing its request for access to President Jonathan and Vice-President Sambo’s asset declaration forms on the FOI Act.

But the CCB boss disagrees with the position of the media, arguing that the bureau’s understanding of the provisions of the FOI Act in itself prevented it from making such forms public.

He said, “The CCB believes that it (the FOI Act) prevents us, because it is at variance with what the constitution says.

“The law is at variance with what the constitution says; there is a case in court to test it.”

 He said the bureau was in partnership with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Comission when cases required referral to an agency best suited to handle certain cases.

How Oshiomhole’s convoy was attacked – Police ( Vanguard )

THE Edo State Police Command said yesterday that it has commenced investigation into the attack on the convoy of Governor Adams Oshiomhole Thursday night and the burning of the Police post by youths alleged to be students of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Usen.
However, the State Government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Louis Odion, alleged thugs loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state opened fire on the Governor’s convoy at about 6pm, shortly after he paid a visit to the Onogie of Usen,  His Royal Highness Oluogbe 11,at his palace.
It stated however that “the brave security details attached to the governor, supported by an additional contingent of regular policemen deployed to maintain law and order, rose to the occasion. They were able to shield the governor, key government functionaries and ACN leaders.  But several official vehicles including Toyota Land cruisers, Hilux pick up van and Toyota Corrola Saloon car were either badly damaged or riddled with bullet”.
The attack is coming barely two months after the Governor escaped death following the accident involving his convoy at Auchi, where three journalists in his convoy lost their lives.
However, the Police Command in a statement signed by its spokesman in the state, DSP Anthony Airhuoyo, narrated that “the governor went on campaign tour to Usen town in Ovia South West Council of Edo state, the governor while on his way to the campaign venue met the students and promised to address them on his way back.
After the campaign at about 6: 15pm, the governor decided to address them on a later date as it is already getting late.
But the students barricaded the high way at the outskirt of the town and were compelling the governor to visit their institution. When there demands could not be met, it became riotous. Throwing stones and missile at the governors convoy.
“In the process of dispersing the riotous students, two of them were injured and are currently receiving treatment.
No body was killed in the process. The students later regrouped and went to Usen Police out post and vandalized the place. However, investigation has commenced as the area is closely being monitored by the police” it stated.

Obasanjo faults FG’s GDP figure of 9.7% ( Sunnews)

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday differed with the Federal Government on the claims of the country attaining 7.5 per cent in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), maintaining that the continual rise in poverty rate does not in any way match economic growth rate, and calls for further clarification and questions. 

Obasanjo stated this in Lagos yesterday at the 40th Annual General Meeting of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) with the theme: ‘Strategies for Accelerated Development of the Manufacturing Sector: the Way Forward’.  “It remained worrisome if poverty level in the country in 2007 was put at 38 percent and today it is 69 percent and yet government claims that GDP growth is increasing, then definitely, something is wrong somewhere,” he said. 

Again,he said the ease of doing business report recently released by the World Bank ranked Nigeria 133 out of 193 countries where it is most difficult to conduct business, ditto for the Transparency International which stated that 142 countries are better than Nigeria in the area of corruption.  The former President lamented regretted that the vision of the country to attain its Vision 20-2020 objective will be a hopeless and unfulfilled dream without the development of the manufacturing sector. 

Obasanjo, who was the guest speaker disclosed that since independence, the country’s manufacturing policies have not been consistent and are disjointed as a result of lack of vision and sustained vision,as a result of the negative disposition of civil servants towards private sector operators. 

In this regard, he said, government must do all it can to harness and develop the potentials inherent in the Agriculture, Infrastructure, finance, marketing and distribution, exports, tourism and minning sectors ,if the country was to realize the needed development for the growth of the manufacturing sector. 

Ealier in his opening remarks, the President of MAN, Mr. Kola Jamodu, said the association in its efforts aimed at bridging the information gap between the Federal Government and the association as well as making robust case for a more conducive manufacturing environment, said the association articulated a blueprint for the acceleration of manufacturing in Nigeria.

US Department Of Justice Executes Forfeiture On US Assets of Former Bayelsa Gov. DSP Alamieyesigha-WSJ ( Sahara )

The Department of Justice executed a forfeiture order Thursday on $401,931 in a Massachusetts brokerage fund traceable to an allegedly corrupt former Nigerian governor.
The forfeiture was the first victory for a fledgling Justice Department initiative dedicated to seeking out assets in the U.S. linked to high-level foreign corruption.
Prosecutors filed court papers in April 2011 targeting  a $600,000 Maryland home and a Massachusetts brokerage account belonging to Diepreye Peter Solomon Alamieyeseigha, governor of Nigeria’s oil-producing Bayelsa State from 1999 to 2005. According to prosecutors, Alamieyeseigha’s assets were the proceeds of corruption. Alamieyeseigha denied the allegations in court filings.
Earlier this month, a federal district judge in Massachusetts granted a motion for default judgment and civil forfeiture on the brokerage account. Prosecutors executed the forfeiture order Thursday.
“With a declared income of less than $250,000, Mr. Alamieyeseigha accumulated millions of dollars worth of property over a six-year period,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in a news release.  “Today’s announcement – the first forfeiture judgment obtained under our Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative – sends a powerful message about the United States’ commitment to rooting out corruption far and wide.”
A Nigerian court sentenced Alamieyeseigha to two years in prison in 2007 for failing to declare assets in Nigeria, South Africa and the U.S. Prosecutors said he bought more than $8 million in properties with bribes he received from contractors while serving as governor. Alamieyeseigha also pleaded guilty to money laundering on behalf of two companies he controlled — Solomon & Peters Ltd. and Alamieyeseigha and Santolina Investment Corp.
In 2006, the High Court of Justice in London found that three of Alamieyeseigha’s properties there, as well as accounts held by Santolina, represented bribe money or were traceable to bribes Alamieyeseigha took from contractors in Nigeria. After he was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2005, police found about $1.6 million in cash in his house.
A lawyer for Alamieyeseigha didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In civil forfeiture cases, the Justice Department can file complaints in federal court against property, rather than individuals, linked to foreign corruption. The forfeiture against Alamieyeseigha’s Maryland house is pending in federal court in Maryland.
The Justice Department didn’t say where the forfeited funds would be directed. According to the news release, “where appropriate [the Justice Department will] return those proceeds to benefit those harmed.” A Justice Department spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about whether or not the funds would be returned to Nigeria.

Faroukgate: Police uncover fresh $10m bribe ( Vanguard)

ABUJA — Investigations by Police detectives into the $620,000 oil subsidy bribe money collected by  Mr Farouk Lawan from oil magnate, Mr. Femi Otedola, have unearthed a wider financial scandal.
It was gathered that oil marketers who were indicted in the report recently submitted to the government by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukuede-led panel that probed the fuel subsidy claims allegedly paid about $10 million as bribe to Lawan committee.

Scam: Hon. Farouk Lawal seating before House Committee on Ethics and Privileges over $620 bribe Scam at National Assembly Abuja.

Vanguard gathered that while the Aig-Imoukuede-led panel uncovered fraudulent overpayments to many of the oil marketers to the tune of N422 billion, all the oil marketers involved and indicted were invited and interrogated by the Lawan committee but were given a clean bill of health.

80% bribe money collected abroad
It has now emerged that the oil marketers gave bribes in foreign currency to the tune of about $10 million and that over 80 per cent of the bribes given were done abroad as the oil marketers, acting in partnership, sponsored some of the leaders of the House subsidy probe panel to the UK and the US, lodged them in choice hotels and gave them the bribes which influenced their being cleared of any fraudulent practice by the committee.

Sources told Vanguard yesterday that the decision of the oil marketers to give out such huge bribes to the House committee was to enable them use the clean bill of health report card, given by the House, to counter the report that would be presented by the Finance Committee panel.
According to sources, police detectives were shocked to find out that the amount of bribe money collected by the Lawan subsidy probe panel to over N15 billion while many House members who hitherto pretended to know nothing of the $620, 000 collected by Farouk, and even lambasted him over the $3 million scam, are neck deep in the $10 million scam.

The marketers were said to have settled for the Farouk committee because the Aig-Imoukuede panel was a no go area and bluntly told them they were not interested in taking bribes to influence their finding.
When Vanguard sought to know what the Police would do concerning the new discovery about the $10 million bribe money most of which took place abroad, it was told that the Police has its ways and that those involved would be found out.

Reps summon Otedola to appear on July 3
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges has summoned Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, Mr. Femi Otedola, to appear before it on July 3.
This was disclosed, yesterday, by the chairman of the committee, Gambo Musa, while briefing newsmen on the proceedings of the committee which interrogated Farouk Lawan over Otedola’s allegation that Lawan collected $620,000 as part of the $3 million bribe he had demanded.
Musa said this had become necessary to enable Otedola respond to some of the revelations made by Lawan when he appeared before the committee.
Lawan who arrived the House Meeting room 4.59, venue of the hearing,  at exactly 1.05pm looked relaxed in his white caftan with a white hat to match. However, shortly after saying the prayers and reading his opening speech, Musa ordered journalists out of the venue of the hearing.
In his opening remarks, Musa recalled how the House reconvened early last January, to address the issue of the Federal Government’s withdrawal of fuel subsidy which had sparked off  nation-wide protests. He also recalled how the House had set up the Adhoc Committee led by Lawan  to probe the fuel subsidy regime and its disbursement adding that the Committee’s report  had attracted applause nation-wide after it was submitted.
He further recalled how the activities of the Committee had taken a new twist after Otedola had alleged he gave Lawan $620,000 as bribe for the purpose of delisting Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd. from companies indicted for diverting foreign exchange allocated to them by the CBN for the purpose of importing petroleum products.
Musa further stated that it was the responsibility of the Committee to unravel what actually transpired during its investigations. He had explained that  Lawan had to be interrogated in camera to avoid jeopardizing the Committee’s investigations.

Cabinet reshuffle may precede appointment of defence minister (PunchNg)

AS a prelude to the appointment of a new defence minister, the Federal Cabinet will be tinkered with to accommodate the appropriate candidate, The PUNCH learnt in Abuja on Wednesday.

The post was vacated by Haliru Mohammed last Friday when President Goodluck Jonathan dropped two of his top security aides. Also fired by Jonathan was the National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi.

The President said their removal was to give way for a fresh strategy to confront the menace of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

A presidency source, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said, “You know Mohammed is from Kebbi State. His successor may not necessarily be from the same state.

“He may not even come from the North-West or even the North. So when a ministerial nominee is picked for the defence ministry, there will be a cabinet reshuffle. One or two ministers may be dropped.

”The President is consulting with former heads of state and security chiefs. He will consult widely as part of efforts to solve the Boko Haram problem.”

Investigations by our correspondents on Wednesday showed that the President had consulted some former security chiefs.

It was also gathered that he would consult former presidents in the process of picking the next minister.

While the federal character consideration would still be maintained by the government, sources in the Presidency said Jonathan had promised that he would appoint the next defence minister on merit.

The source stated that the security situation in the country did not permit primordial consideration.

“Although the issue of federal character cannot be completely ruled out, emphasis will be on merit because we are in an unusual period,” he said.

The PUNCH had on Monday reported that the far North and the South were competing for the defence portfolio.

Some media reports on Wednesday indicated that a former NSA, Lt.-Gen. Aliyu Gusau (retd.), and a military intelligence officer and former governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Umar, were being tipped for the post.

It was also learnt that the President would soon rejig the service chiefs, as the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petirin, would soon retire.

Petirin enlisted in the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1974 as a member of Regular Course 16 and was commissioned Pilot Officer on January 3, 1977.

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emodi, said her office had not received the nominee for the defence ministry.

In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, Emodi said, “I believe that once the President finds someone who meets his conditions for the ministry, the name would be sent to my office.

“At the moment, no name has been forwarded. Once that happens it will be sent to the Senate.”

She said that the President had not picked any candidate for the position.

“The Senate is required to screen the nominee as soon as the name is communicated by the President,” Emodi said.