NATIONAL VIBES

Published By Tony Okechukwu The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed an application seeking the final forfeiture of $8.4million and N7.4 billion allegedly linked to Mrs. Patience Jonathan, wife of former President, Goodluck Jonathan. The anti-graft agency filed the application on Wednesday before Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos. In his submission for the final forfeiture order, counsel to the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, told the court that Mrs Jonathan allegedly diverted the funds from a Non-Governmental Organisation linked to her – Women for Change Initiative. According to him, most of the funds were fraudulently diverted from the NGO to other accounts of the second to sixth respondents – companies also believed to be owned by the former first lady. Oyedepo also said that as regards the $8.4 million, Mrs Jonathan had not been able to disclose to the court the identities of those who made the donations to the NGO.

Posted By Admin A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital has restated its order restraining the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and some others from proceeding with the planned arraignment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen. The order was restated on Thursday by Justice Evelyn Maha at the resumed hearing of the suits brought by the incorporated trustees of two groups – the Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative, and the International Association of Students Economists and Management. This online news medium understands that the suits are challenging the propriety of the charge brought against the CJN before the CCT by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). It was learned that Justice Maha upon being told that some of the respondents have not been properly served, ordered fresh service of court papers in relation to the suits on the defendants and directed that hearing notices also be served

By Tony Okechukwu Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has described the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a "mafia organisation", vowing to privatise it if elected. Speaking in Lagos during an interactive session with the business community on Wednesday, Atiku said he would take the step even if doing so would cost him his life. He explained that he sold the idea to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo whom he deputised between 1999 and 2007 but that the former president did not approve of it. Atiku said he is convinced that NNPC would run better if not managed by the government. "Let me go back to my experience. When we got into office, I walked up to my boss and said "Sir, there are two mafia organisations in government: one is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while the other one is the National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA)," he said.     "I said unle

Posted Tony Okechukwu Bayelsa State Governor, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari on the choice of Mr. Muhammed Adamu as the new Inspector General of Police. The Governor in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, on Thursday, described the new IGP as a dedicated professional with the requisite experience for the job. He however urges the new IGP to give the necessary attention to the need to refocus the police for more effective service delivery with emphasis on professionalism. Governor Dickson said that his interactions with the new IGP when he was the Assistant Inspector General in charge of Zone 5, showed that he was a brilliant career officer who did well then, and has the right experience for the job. He called on the Nigerian citizenry to support to the new IGP to enable to him the succeed in the onerous task of securing lives and prosperities in the society. The Governor assured

Posted By Admin The South South Governor’s Forum has scheduled an emergency meeting of the Forum for Sunday. A statement by the Special Adviser, Media Relation’s to the Governor òf Bayelsa State, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, stated that the security òf the Niger Delta, during and after the election, the issue of derivation, and recent development involving the Chief Justice of the Federation would feature for deliberation at the meeting. Expressing his opinion at the development in the Supreme Court, Governor Dickson said that while he was yet to know the full details surrounding the developments at the Supreme Court concerning the CJN, it is a grave and dangerous escalation, coming a few weeks to the general elections. He said that the South South Governor’s would address a press conference after the meeting to convey the position of the zone to the Nigerian public. Governor Dickson said that all efforts must be on deck to prevent the subversion and desecration òf the ethos of de

Posted By Tony Okechukwu The Governor òf Bayelsa State, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, has said the verdict of history would be hard on former Governor, Timipre Sylva. Dickson said that politicians who desecrated the opportunities to serve, to abuse state resources to lure Bayelsa youths to violence would face condemnation in the courts of posterity. The Governor, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, stressed that politicians buying guns for Bayelsa youths and fanning the embers òf violence would have their place of rejection on history’s pages of villainy. Dickson was reacting to a publication in which Sylva alleged of media plot by the governor to pitch him against the Chief òf Staff to the President, ABBA Kyari. The Governor said that it was rather unfortunate that Sylva had descended to level of scavenging for imagined information from the gutters. He said that while genuine and responsible political leaders respond to r

Posted By Tony Okechukwu ...Say He Runs When Nobody Pursues Him The Bayelsa State Governor, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, on Wednesday described former Governor Timipre Sylva as an unpopular and desperate politician whose conscience remains his greatest threat. Dickson said in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media Relations, Mr. FIdelis Soriwei, that Sylva cuts the gnawing image of a troubled man screaming and fleeing at the sight of nobody. Dickson was reacting to a claim by Sylva that the governor was behind a plot to pitch the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari, against him through orchestrated media reports. Soriwei said that Governor Dickson is too involved and indeed occupied with the execution of the mandate the Bayelsa people gave to him, to be distracted by the hallucinations of a politician whose lifeline in politics was the state òf the mood of his political masters. The Governor’s media Aide said that it was queer and absurd that Sylv

Published By Innocent Imoh The Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, yesterday said that he is ready to sacrifice his position for a state of emergency to be imposed on his state. The governor was reacting to the worsening insecurity situation in the state. Speaking to State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Yari said his call for a state of emergency was not merely playing “politics.” The governor also expressed confidence that the lingering cases of armed banditry in the state won’t affect the forthcoming elections, adding that they are not occupying any territory in the state. Yari, who said he met with the President over the security situation in the state, said the issue of armed banditry was being exaggerated. According to him, some politicians had suggested the declaration of state of emergency on the wrong assumption that he would be afraid to lose his office. Yari assured that he was prepa