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21:17:00
Former Gov. In Dirty $1.85b Hotel Deal With Diezani NAMED; First Bank MD Too Implicated
News Punch earlier this morning reported of a shady $1.85b Hotel Deal involving the former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke and an unnamed former Military Administrator; a fresh report according to Sahara Reporters suggests that the unnamed former Governor is Anthony Akpo.

Anthony Akpo was a former Military Administrator of Rivers State.

According to SH, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s former Petroleum Resources Minister, purchased Port Harcourt’s Le Meridien Hotel for $25million from a former Rivers State military administrator, Anthony Akpo.


Our sources say that the transaction was carried out using several persons, including Dauda Lawal, a First Bank of Nigeria Executive Director.

Lawal’s role, according to investigators at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was to pick up from Skye Bank in Lagos and innocuously drop off $25million cash into a bank account at Sterling Bank PLC.

The directive to pick up the huge cash haul was coordinated by Stanley Lawson, a former group executive director of Finance and accounts at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

During EFCC interrogations, Dauda claimed he did not know that the transaction was aimed at purchasing Le Meriden Hotel in Port Harcourt, and that he was only helping a friend, Mr. Lawson, to run errands.  People knowledgeable about Mr. Lawal’s closeness to Diezani, which some say sometimes appeared to be romantic, said he may not be telling the whole truth.

Lawal was one of the bankers arrested by the EFCC in a recent fraud-related raid of high profile bankers involved in financial crimes perpetrated by Mrs. Alison-Madueke.  Others include Herbert Wigwe of Access Bank PLC, Nnamdi Okonkwo of Fidelity Bank PLC, and Yemi Adeola, the MD of Standard Bank PLC.

Le Meriden hotel was conceived as a five-star hotel. It was built in 2003 by retired Brigadier General Ukpo with the help of Julius Berger, the construction company with whom he became acquainted during his early days first as the military administrator of Rivers state and later as the Principal Secretary to former Military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida.  Ukpo sold the 87-room luxury hotel to Mrs. Alison-Madueke through a web of actors with the hope that no one would find out.

After the EFCC discovered the fraudulent sale, Ukpo reportedly offered to hand over the hotel to the federal government, but President Buhari is believed to have rejected the offer, saying the government has no business managing a hotel, and insisting that Ukpo return $25m to the federation account.

It is unclear why the former army chief has not yet been arrested.

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20:49:00
Jonathan
A witness in the ongoing trial of the personal assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on domestic matters, Waripamowei Emmanuel Dudafa, on Monday told the Lagos Federal High Court presided by Justice M.B. Idris how he received a total sum of N1,667,162,800 from the former presidential aide through five different companies between 2013 and 2015. 

The companies are Pluto Properties and Investment Limited, Avalon Global Property, Rotato Interlink Services, Seagate Property, and Ebiwise Services Limited.

The witness, Murtala Bashir Abubakar, made the disclosure when he was led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, and was asked to explain to the court his relationship with Mr. Dudafa.



Mr. Abubakar, a Bureau de Change operator who plies his trade in three different companies - Na Mu Duka Ventures, Yamusa Oil Services Limited, and 313 Ventures - informed the court that he knew Mr. Dudafa since the accused was a Commissioner for Local Government in Bayelsa State under the administration of Governor Timipre Sylva.

He further told the court that the only relationship between the two of them was that of Forex, a relationship that continued up to the time Mr. Dudafa became a personal assistant to Mr. Jonathan.

In explaining the nature of their transactions, the witness informed the court that Mr. Dudafa usually sent two of his staff, Festus and German, with U.S. dollars in order to deposit the Naira equivalent into specific accounts provided by Mr. Dudafa via text messages. The witness disclosed to the court the text messages he received from Mr. Dudafa on his Samsung mobile phone.

Mr. Abubakar confirmed to the court that all instructions on how to disburse the money were sent via text messages, with the exception of one transaction in which Mr. Dudafa invited the witness to the Presidential Villa and handed him $4 million in cash.

The mobile phone as well as the Ownership Attestation Form were admitted and marked as Exhibits E and E1, respectively.

The witness was confronted with exhibits A-B3 in which he identified all the transactions, both from his companies’ accounts and his personal account, that transpired between himself and Mr. Dudafa from 2013 to 2015.

At the end of the examination, the witness confirmed that all money he received during the transactions in question came from Mr. Dudafa.

When it was time for the defense to proceed with cross-examination of the witness, the counsel representing Mr. Dudafa, Gboyega Oyewale, requested the court for an adjournment. Sunday Abumeri, counsel to the second defendant, also aligned with the position of Mr. Oyewale in seeking an adjournment.

Rotimi Oyedepo objected the pleads of the two counsels, but Justice Idris eventually granted the defense counsels' application and adjourned the matter to Tuesday, 27 September 2016.

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20:11:00
Umana Okon Umana
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Mr. Umana Okon Umana  as the Managing Director of Oil & Gas Free Zone Authority.

Umana was the candidate of The All Progressives Congress, APC in Akwa-Ibom State in 2015

 Apart from Umana Okon Umana, 12 others are also appointed into various federal agencies.

Below is Press Release from The Office of Government of the Federation.

Press Release:

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPROVES NEW FEDERAL APPOINTMENTS

His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved new appointments in 13 Federal Government agencies as follows:

S/N
ORGANIZATION
DESIGNATION
APPOINTEE

1
Industrial Training Fund (ITF)
Director-General
Mr. Joseph Ari


2
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
Director-General
Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami)

3
Nigerian Content Monitoring Board
Executive Secretary
Engineer Simbi Kesiye Wabote

4
Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON)
Director-General
Aboloma Osita Anthony

5
Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP)
Director-General
Mamman Amadu

6
Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD)
Executive Secretary
Barrister Sharon Ikeazor

7
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
National Coordinator/CEO
Princess Akodundo Gloria

8
Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF)
Executive Secretary
Alhaji Ahmed Bobboi

9
Oil & Gas Free Zone Authority
Managing Director
Umana Okon Umana

10
National Commission for Refugees, Migrant and Internally Displaced Persons
Federal Commissioner
Sa’adiya Faruq

11
Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC)
Chairman
Engineer Usman Abubakar

12
Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF)
Executive Secretary
Dr. Bello Aliyu Gusau

13
Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC)
Executive Secretary
Yewande Sadiku

(Signed)
Bolaji Adebiyi,
Director (Press),
For: Secretary to the Government of the Federation
Ref. No. PPR/OSGF/PR/03, 26th September, 2016.
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17:45:00
RECESSION: Jonathan's Helmsman, Ex-Minister Approves $1b AfDB Loan To Save Nigeria
The African Development Bank (AfDB), headed by Akinwunmi Adesina, former agriculture minister, on Monday, September 26, 2016, approved the sum of $1 billion as loan to the Nigerian government. 

The loan provided at 1.2 percent interest rate is meant to address the deficits in 2016 budget.

Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, revealed this after a meeting with Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the country’s vice president and other members of the Economic Management Team (EMT) in Abuja. “African Development Bank (AfDB), we have a very strong delegation team to meet Vice President and the economic management team. 


“The bank’s largest shareholder is Nigeria. It is very important for me to be here and to talk to the Nigerian government about the challenges and opportunities that are in Nigeria.

“I think the times are difficult and there is no doubt about that. But I want to commend the government for being bold in taking the right decisions. 

“I think that the fact that the price of crude oil has gone down, is a big challenge because you have 98 per cent external forex revenue coming from the sector. 

“So it has created calibrations, I’m not going to go into the details of all the problems but what is important is what we are going to do about it. “I’m not here to lecture the Nigerian government. I’m here to support very strongly. 

“We have said that we are going to support the Nigerian government with the budget support to be able to deal with some of fiscal imbalance that they have.


“We are looking to consider for an award of $1 billion to help to deal with that particular deficit,” the Nation quoted him as saying after the meeting. Earlier, the News Agency of Nigeria had quoted finance minister Kemi Adeosun as announcing that Nigeria wanted a loan from the AfDB. 



“We are talking with AfDB for a $1 billion budget deficits finance support,” Adeosun reportedly said. The country has been facing recession and there is belief that the loan would help to meet the current challenges before the government.
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16:56:00
TOP SECRET: How Buhari Torturing VP Osinbajo, relegated Him As Mere Flat Tyre For Refusing To Betray Tinubu
A former minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has claimed that under the Muhammadu Buhari presidency, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has been relegated to not just a spare tyre but “a very flat one”, adding that this is so because the senior advocate has refused to dump his political benefactor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He stated this in an article published on Monday entitled; “Bola Ahmed Tinubu and those who want him dead” while itemising six shots that have been fired at the former Lagos governor by a small cabal of power-brokers which, according to him, is peopled by: President Muhammadu Buhari, his nephew: Mamman Daura, Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari and the Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El Rufai.

The former minister’s claim seems to fly in the face of President Buhari’s assertion during an interview where he was categorical that “The vice president heads our economic management team.”


Fani-Kayode however wrote that Osinbajo is “constantly being directed to represent the President at official functions all over the country as if he were more his Personal Assistant, Special Advisor or Minister rather than the Vice President of the country.”

His words, “The fifth shot is the thorough and systematic, though subtle and covert, humiliation and relegation of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a close associate and political protegee of Tinubu and a spiritual son of the reverred Pastor Enoch Adeboye of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), to not just a spare tyre as Vice President but also to a very flat one.

“Rather than being allowed to participate in the crucial decision-making processes on vital and critical issues of state and governance as any Vice President should, Osinbajo has been kept in the dark about virtually everything and he has little or no power to effect anything.

“When such decions [sic] are to be debated, discussed and made the Vice President is never invited into the room and neither is he even aware that there is such a meeting going on.”
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16:41:00
Daizsa Bausby
A teenager girl identified as Daizsa Bausby reportedly raped by own father to death, report according to LinkNaija says

The father. according to the report has been arrested and charged for her alleged rape and murder. 

The 18yrs old girl was actually preparing for her 19th birthday, when she was suddenly found dead. 

Sadly, according to the police findings, her father, Jerry K. Bausby, 40, raped and killed her.


Beautiful Daizsa's was found smothered to death inside a Kansas City motel room after she went to visit her dad sometime in March 2016 at the motel.

But last week, her dad appeared before a Jackson County judge, and entered a not guilty plea for her rape and death. He was charged with murder in the first degree, sodomy, incest and sexual assault but he maintains his innocence.

The police are expected to tender "forensic" evidences against the father in the next court sitting.

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