"It is difficult to fathom how a federal lawmaker, who before his current position was an Associate Lecturer and Local Government Chairman, owns 22 high-end properties in Nigeria and other exclusive locations across the world," the statement read.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has tasked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to publish its findings on the properties of "a current Senate presiding officer facing EFCC investigations".

The party said it is difficult to fathom how "a federal lawmaker, who before his current position was an Associate Lecturer and Local Government Chairman, owns 22 high-end properties in Nigeria and other exclusive locations across the world".

Although the party did not expressly say so, the lawmaker is believed to be Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who is being investigated and was detained on August 1 by the EFCC over his linkage to 22 properties.

In a statement by Yekini Nabena, the party’s Acting National Publicity Secretary, APC urged the EFCC and other related organisations to intensify efforts aimed at “investigating and recovering public funds and assets that have been stolen by public officials".

Commending President Muhammadu Buhari on his stance in the fight against corruption, the APC restated its commitment to ensuring that the country is run by individuals who have integrity.

The statement read: “The All Progressives Congress (APC) calls on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and other allied anti graft bodies to intensify efforts at investigating and recovering public funds and assets that have been stolen by public officials.

“Fighting corruption is one of the key election promises the Party made to Nigerians and we remain solidly committed and determined to achieve it.

“Our call to anti-graft agencies is imperative as we prepare for the 2019 general elections. We must check the use of stolen public funds to finance elections in this country. Again, it is important that the Nigerian electorate have the opportunity to choose from candidates that can pass the integrity and corruption test. We must ensure that we never again entrust the leadership of this great country to gang of thieves whose sole aim is treasury looting as brazenly displayed in past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administrations.”

In the reference to Ekweremadu, the party said: “An example is a current Senate presiding officer facing EFCC investigations. It is difficult to fathom how a federal lawmaker, who before his current position was an Associate Lecturer and Local Government Chairman, owns 22 high-end properties in Nigeria and other exclusive locations across the world.

“It is our hope that the anti-graft agencies investigating this Senate Presiding officer makes public his and other corruption probe status reports so that Nigerians can know them for who they are.”

Ekweremadu was the pioneer Chairman of Aninri Local Government in Enugu State, a post he held between 1997 and 1998, and an Associate Lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Law from the University of Abuja.

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Liverpool fans have obviously not forgiven Sergio Ramos for what he did to their star man, Mo Salah in the UEFA Champions League final, as they were ecstatic with what Diego Costa did to him yesterday.

The Reds supporters have hailed Diego Costa a "hero" after Atletico Madrid's Super Cup win over Real Madrid.

32 year old Sergio Ramos, was accused of injuring Mo Salah in the Champions League final back in May, and also giving Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius a concussion in the same fixture.

So when Diego Costa's boot made contact with Ramos' head in the 64th minute of Wednesday's match, a good number of the Anfield faithful quite enjoyed it.

The collision happened after Ramos made a sliding challenge on the former Chelsea man, whose momentum carried him over his opponent's head.

Below are some reactions by Liverpool fans;

A young American couple was killed by ISIS last month while on a cycling trip around the world to prove ‘humans are kind.’Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan, who were both in their late 20s, last year quit their office jobs in Washington, DC, to embark on the journey.

Austin, a vegan who worked for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Geoghegan, a vegetarian who worked in the Georgetown University admissions office, decided that they’re were wasting their lives working.

The couple documented their year-long journey on ​Instagram and on a ​joint blog. They shared “the openheartedness they wanted to embody and the acts of kindness reciprocated by strangers.”

Austin wrote in one post;

“You read the papers and you’re led to believe that the world is a big, scary place,”

“People, the narrative goes, are not to be trusted. People are bad. People are evil.”

“I don’t buy it, evil is a make-believe concept we’ve invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans holding values and beliefs and perspectives different than our own… By and large, humans are kind. Self-interested sometimes, myopic sometimes, but kind. Generous and wonderful and kind.”

However, Austin and Geoghegan’s trip came to a tragic and gruesome end when they got to Tajikistan, a country with a known terrorist presence. They were riding their bikes through the country on July 29 when a car rammed them, ​​according to CBS News.

Five men got out of the car and stabbed the couple to death along with two other cyclists, one from Switzerland and the other from the Netherlands.

Two days later, ISIS released a video showing the same men sitting in front of the black ISIS flag. They looked at the camera and vowed to kill “disbelievers,” ​according to The New York Times.

BUKOLA Saraki, president of the 8th Senate, says he has not declared to run for the post of president in the forth coming 2019 general election.

Mr Saraki was reported to be considering joining the race. Some medium who republished the story said he has declared his intention to run.

“I am consulting and actively considering it, I believe I can make the change,” the top lawmaker was quoted by Bloomberg to have said.

But clarifying his position on the matter, the Senate President said the aspiration was still at the considering stage.

“‘Considering’ is not a declaration. At the appropriate time, the President of Senate will be specific about his aspiration for 2019,” his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said on Thursday.

“Moreover, the Bloomberg interview was 90% on the economy, and not politics.

“The President of the Senate has been clear that at the right time, Nigerian’s will know what his plans are,” he said.

Olaniyonu restated his principal’s comment last month where he said: “Time will come for everything; a time will come for me to tell people where I am, what I’m doing.”

        

Ekweremadu to Nigerians: Remove Buhari peacefully in 2019. Watch the video above.

Dr. Yinka Ayefele, the Chairman/CEO of Yinka Ayefele Ltd, owners of Fresh FM 105.9, has reacted to a statement by Oyo State Government which said that the Music House, Challenge, Ibadan, where the radio station is located, was served a demolition notice because it contravenes state planning laws.

According to Ayefele, the building did not contravene any building law because it has the necessary approvals from relevant government agencies. The government’s statement, issued by the Commissioner for Information, Toye Arulogun, said that the submitted building approval for Music House was actually meant for an office complex and not a radio station, and so contravened the Oyo State Physical Planning and Development Control laws, sections 30, 31 and 32 of the Oyo State Physical Planning and Urban Development Law of 2012. According to Arulogun, the submitted approval from Music House deviated from the approved plan which in effect makes the approval null and void because deceitful information was given to the approving authority and also deviation from the approval granted both in construction and use.

The commissioner also stated that the government received petitions subsequent upon three fatal accidents that occurred around Music House in the last nine months, as the petitioners urged the government to look at the physical structure of the organization in relation to the dual carriage way which lends itself easily to accidents. But in a swift reaction on Wednesday night, Ayefele said blaming accidents on that road on Music House was mischievous. Below is the press statement by Ayefele, published exactly as issued: Our attention has been drawn to a purported press release signed by Mr. Toye Arulogun, Commissioner for Information and Culture, Oyo State where he said that the Music House Complex Contravenes Planning laws and is responsible for three fatal accidents that occurred on the road in the last nine months on which the government have received petitions.

We want to make it clear that Music House followed due process in the construction of the building and got relevant approvals from state departments and agencies associated with lands and buildings.

Saying that Music House Complex is responsible for three accidents that occurred on the road in the last nine months is just an attempt by the Commissioner to run away fromn his shadow. How can a reasonable person say that? It is not news that the Governor of the state himself said some politicians came to him to demolish the Music House Complex because Ayefele is not in their camp and he also sang against them.

We have the Governor on tape, so the Commissioner should look for another excuse. We know it is the Commissioner that is misinforming the Governor who we hold in a very high esteem. The Commissioner has tried in the past to influence a change in our programmes saying some of our analysts should be replaced. We want the general public to know that Music House has not in any way contravened any building plan law as the Commissioner has mischievously said.

Music House has been in existence for almost 10 years and we have all necessary documents backing the building from relevant government agencies. Some questions we need to ask the Commissioner are:

1. Why is the government collecting tenement rate from us when they know we contravened building plan law?

2. Why did the government approve the building plan when they know it will contravene the state housing law?

3. The Commissioner should tell us why the state is just realising that the Music House building is the cause of accident along this road. Perhaps it is also responsible for accidents on Ring road and other parts of the state.

4. If we actually contravened the building law, why did the Commissioner always send us press release for use on behalf of the government.

5. The Commissioner has featured on different programmes on our station and has commended us for our professionalism same with the Governor who heaped praises on us when he visited the station on October 6, 2016.

The Commissioner should look for another excuse and stop chasing shadows.

Signed: Dr. Yinka Ayefele Chairman/CEO Yinka Ayefele Ltd

Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the people of northern Nigeria are the most backward in the world.

Ribadu said this on Wednesday while speaking at the launch of “Sect and social disorder” and “Quaranic Schools in Northern Nigeria”, books edited by Abdul Rafau Mustapha and Hannah Hoechner.

The event organised by Premium Times Books took place in Abuja.

The former EFCC chairman described the Almajiri system as the worst form of abuse of human rights.

“I am from Yola, we have similar culture with Kaduna, Kano but we don’t have Almajiri, what is happening? We are also Muslims. There are lots of areas where we have similar things. Which education are we talking about, these are some things that are incredible and you don’t know where to start,” he said.

“There is no worse – in the form of violation and abuse of rights more than the Almajiri system, yet people are justifying it comfortably calling themselves as products of it. I think we have to look at it crucially otherwise we will continue to go that direction that we will not be able to solve her problems.

“We are the most backward people in this world, the society of northern Nigeria. Look at all the indices in the world today, we are the worst why? How can we continue to deny ourselves our future?”

Ribadu said the boys in the Almajiri system are often victims of violence

“I worked on many of those crisis and conflicts as a member of the investigation team and tribunal, I was in Zango Kataf, I was in Tafawa Balewa, I was in Kaduna religious crisis, I was among the prosecutors of El-Zakzaky in the 1990s,” he said.

“During the Kaduna religious disturbance of 2000, we visited where they buried the victims along Birnin Gwari road, they opened the graves for us, what I saw is still haunting me. There were bodies, all of them young boys, no girls that is talking about Almajiri – boys over 100 buried in mass graves and no identity, not a single one of them had a name and they were all buried, I got interested in this.

“I said let me see and get it touch with those who are responsible for it. They were victims of the crisis that took place in Kaduna because of the Sharia riots. They said they did not have their identity or Mallam responsible for them? They said no. Did anyone come to complain that they have lost a child?

“They said no. I was also in interpol, I had a duty to do outside Nigeria. I flew British Airways few days after that and the governor who introduced Sharia to Nigeria had his kids there and they all went to the first class. It was terrible for me. I could not say anything throughout the flight. The sight of those young boys, buried, unidentified – nobody is talking about it, the families never even complained, not even their so-called mallams.”

On his part, Matthew Kukah, archbishop of Sokoto diocese, said people in the north need to help themselves.

“If we were serious Christians or Muslims we will not be having this conversation,” he said.

“We in the northern Nigeria, we have to help ourselves.”

The Arewa Youths for Peace and Security (AYPS), a coalition of Northern groups and associations, has declared their unconditional support and solidarity for Senate President Bukola Saraki and other leadership of the Senate.

Addressing a press conference, on Wednesday, in Kano, its National President, Alhaji Salisu Magaji, held that from all available records, the present Senate has discharged its assigned mandate beyond rebuke and should be clothed in glory rather than harassed.

He faulted last week’s siege on the National Assembly by operatives of Department of State Services (DSS) saying it was a clear breach of the norms of democracy which should not have been allowed to happen.

Magaji counseled senators from the North against aligning themselves with any plot that designed to undermine or truncate Saraki’s leadership in the Senate.

The youths, drawn from the 19 northern states, took particular exception to the highly ‘militarised’ remarks of the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

“The rule of the Senate is clear. It states how to elect and how to impeach a Senate President. None of its processes or articles of association includes the kind of subtle force and desperation implied in the remarks by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole” said Alhaji Magaji

“Dr. Saraki is not the problem of APC. He has exited to another party. APC has several problems to confront that have nothing to do with Saraki. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole should please leave Saraki alone, “Magaji stated.

He urged the senators to work within themselves towards resolving their problem, pointing out that the interference by the APC national chairman presents a precedent that would be hunt the upper house in the coming years.

Magaji also commented on the advisory by security authorities stopping pro- Saraki supporters from a peaceful march in Kano State, recalling that the authorities were silent when some group of anti-Saraki groups took to streets to express their views on same topic.

The new picture of popular Ghanaian actor, John Dumelo looking fat with some sort of potbelly have set tongues waggling in his social media page because it has been barely some months after the actor got married to the love of his life that this new look of a thing is coming in.

Am I the only one who believe Dumelo is looking old?.

See Pictures Below!!!


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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wants N6bn to feed policemen during the 2019 polls.

This is contained in the budget for the polls presented to the House of Representatives by INEC.

Lawmakers are asking the INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, to defend it.

The budget defence took place at the National Assembly today.

ABUJA—ABOUT 28 ministers are currently in attendance at the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided over by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Council Chamber Presidential Villa Abuja.

The unprecedented number of ministers at the FEC may not be unconnected to the ‘no nonsense’ stance of the Acting President since he took over the realm of leadership from President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a 10-working day vacation in London, United Kingdom.

As at 10:30am some ministers had arrived at the Council Chamber for the FEC scheduled for 11am and as at the time the Acting President arrived about 28 of the ministers were already seated for the meeting.

After the national anthem, the Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwukah said the Christian opening prayer, while the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu offered the Muslim prayer.

The turn out was unprecedented compared to the past FEC meetings chaired by Osinbajo as Vice President or Acting President.

Recall that Osinbajo had last week Tuesday terminated the appointment of the immediate past Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura and also yesterday (Tuesday), ordered immediate overhaul of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) as well as the probe of operatives that allegedly committed human right abuses on the course of their duty.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and members of the Commission presented INEC 2019 General Elections  Budget to the Senate Committee on INEC.

See photos below...

The Arewa Youths for Peace and Security (AYPS), a coalition of Northern groups and associations, has declared their unconditional support and solidarity for Senate President Bukola Saraki and other leadership of the Senate.

Addressing a press conference, on Wednesday, in Kano, its National President, Alhaji Salisu Magaji, held that from all available records, the present Senate has discharged its assigned mandate beyond rebuke and should be clothed in glory rather than harassed.

He faulted last week’s siege on the National Assembly by operatives of Department of State Services (DSS) saying it was a clear breach of the norms of democracy which should not have been allowed to happen.

Magaji counseled senators from the North against aligning themselves with any plot that designed to undermine or truncate Saraki’s leadership in the Senate.

The youths, drawn from the 19 northern states, took particular exception to the highly ‘militarised’ remarks of the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

“The rule of the Senate is clear. It states how to elect and how to impeach a Senate President. None of its processes or articles of association includes the kind of subtle force and desperation implied in the remarks by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole” said Alhaji Magaji

“Dr. Saraki is not the problem of APC. He has exited to another party. APC has several problems to confront that have nothing to do with Saraki. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole should please leave Saraki alone, “Magaji stated.

He urged the senators to work within themselves towards resolving their problem, pointing out that the interference by the APC national chairman presents a precedent that would be hunt the upper house in the coming years.

Magaji also commented on the advisory by security authorities stopping pro- Saraki supporters from a peaceful march in Kano State, recalling that the authorities were silent when some group of anti-Saraki groups took to streets to express their views on same topic.