ADELEYE ADEOLA

Wednesday, 15 July 2015

BREAKING: Lamido And Sons Granted Bail

Former governor Sule Lamido has been released on bail by a federal court in Abuja Premium Times

Embattled ex-Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and his two sons have been granted bail amounting to N75 million by the Federal High Court in Abuja. Justice Gabriel Kolawole gave the ruling today amid tight security at the court premises to forestall a breakdown of law and order.
The trio are facing a 28-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegations of mismanagement of over N1.3 billion in public funds

Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Son of Boston police captain arrested for planning terrorist attack

U.S. federal authorities arrested and charged with terrorism the estranged son of a Boston police captain who allegedly was planning an attack inspired by the Islamic State, the Department of Justice announced Monday.
Alexander Ciccolo, 23, was arrested on July 4 as he was awaiting a shipment of several firearms he had arranged to buy, unknowingly from an undercover FBI agent.

The investigation says that Ciccolo, who calls himself Abu Ali al-Amriki and who neighbors reportedly said is a recent convert to Islam, intended to construct bombs using pressure cookers, like those used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, to stage an attack somewhere in the United States inspired by ISIS ideology.

The court documents in the case say that Ciccolo has "a long history of mental illness" and had been sentenced in the past to a year in jail.

According to the daily Boston Globe, Ciccolo is the son of veteran Boston police Capt. Robert Ciccolo, who notified the FBI of the young man's intentions.

The Ciccolo family issued a statement in which they said they were "saddened and disappointed" upon learning the details of the attack their relative was planning, although despite acquiring a pressure cooker he had not yet done anything more than try to fashion some Molotov cocktails.

According to investigators, Ciccolo became obsessed with the ISIS a year-and-a-half ago and had expressed to undercover agents his intention to carry out attacks in public places like those conducted by the jihadist group.

Ciccolo also became interested in traveling abroad to fight with the IS and had expressed his intention to become a marty

Lol. 50 cent poses by small car, says times are hard

He posted this photo and captioned it. Times are hard out here, lol. In response to the news of his well timed 'bankruptcy' filing and Chris Rock's Fall so hard' tweet, 50 cents said:

"I’m not panicking. People love tragedy more than they love good news, no matter how you look at it. The news comes on, and it’s 90 percent tragedy. I have faith in the court systems, I know at points you gotta just relax and go through the process.”

On the decision to file for bankruptcy, he says "

I make decisions to do things based on the position that I’m placed in at points and if I’m consistently being made out to be a target because of my financial situation ….If people actually believe that I wouldn’t be conscious of who I am and protecting myself …”

The rapper seems very cool amidst all of the backlash from fans and the press and seems to be a good business man. Filing for bankruptcy may not be a bad thing if you already have bad credit.

Monday, 13 July 2015

Buhari Rejects New Mercedes For Aso Villa

President Buhari rejected armored Mercedes for the presidential mansion, according to The Punch takemetonaija.com

President Buhari has declined the federal government's offer to use five new armored Mercedes-Benz cars for transportation. Aso Villa originally planned to purchase the cars.
A source connected to the Presidency told Punch journalists that President Buhari found out about the Aso Villa’s pending acquisition when the Permanent Secretary Nebolisa Emodi briefed him about the executive mansion’s activities. Astounded by what he heard, the President is said to have told Emodi that the purchase is unnecessary because they were a waste of resources.
President Buhari said that he was content with the normal cars he inherited from former President Jonathan. The source reports that Buhari said, "I don't need any new cars. The ones I am using now are just fine."
President Buhari welcomed other ideas and initiatives put forward by the secretary that will work to reduce the total cost of operating Aso Villa as well as strengthening its financial condition. He emphasized that efforts should be made to reduce the executive mansion’s expenses and keep spending within the approved national budget in order to avoid past administrations use of "Presidential intervention funds."
Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President Media and Publicity, confirmed that Buhari has not yet approved the purchase of the new cars. He said the President is seriously committed to the efficient management of national resources.

Senate on a collision course with Buhari over Perm Sec’s refusal to honour invitation

On Sunday, there seemed to be an imminent clash between the Presidency and the Senate over an alleged attempt by the Presidency to disrespect the senate president.

Pro-Saraki senators are accusing the Presidency of asking the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastacia Nwaobia, to an invitation by the upper chamber.

Nwaobia had informed the Senate that she could not honour its invitation without an approval by her supervisors but Saraki loyalists said the Senate had the constitutional power to invite Nwaobia and that her refusal constituted an affront to the legitimacy of the senate president.

Saraki loyalists said:

“It will not augur well for our democracy if the Presidency will not allow civil servants to do their jobs. We should not carry the crisis in the APC to the Senate,” a pro-Saraki senator told one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.

Both Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had spurned the party’s directive on who to lead the National Assembly and had ridden on the back of an alleged alliance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party members to clinch the leadership posts in both chambers.

The APC had preferred Ahmad Lawan, a Senator from Yobe State, as the president of the Senate.

The Lawan group in the Senate on Sunday said it supported Nwaobia because Saraki was said to lack both legitimacy and the moral right to invite the permanent secretary to brief the senate on the state of the economy.

It was learnt that senators loyal to the Senate President were angry that the Presidency could encourage the civil servants to disobey the Senate.

The Senate ad hoc committee on Finance, in a letter dated June 29, 2015, had invited Nwaobia and some officials of the finance ministry to appear before the committee on July 8.

But when the permanent secretary did not honour the invitation at 11am on July 8, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, wrote another letter to her the same day, restating the invitation.

The permanent secretary was said to have sent a text message to the Senate on July 7, explaining why she could not come.

The senate said:

“Your action is a deliberate violation of the provisions of Section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as amended).

“You are, therefore, requested to appear before the Senate leadership as contained in your aforementioned letter on Wednesday July 8, 2015 at 2.00pm prompt.”

The third letter to the Permanent Secretary, written by the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Issa Galaudu, also stressed the importance of the meeting. It read,

“Please note that your text message of yesterday, Tuesday, July 7, 2015, which I received by hours of 20:02 pm, suggesting that you would not make today’s meeting, is unacceptable.

“This is an affront to the President of the Senate and its leadership. The provision of Section 67(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is very clear and unambiguous in this regard. Hence, you do not need the permission of any official before you attend or appear before the Senate.

“Consequently, I have the instructions of the President of the Senate and leadership that you do appear before them on the date and time earlier communicated to you, Wednesday, July 8, 2015 by 11am prompt. It is my belief that you will comply unconditionally.”

A source in the ministry said that, based on civil service procedures, it would be wrong for the permanent secretary to honour the invitation without first getting the approval of the Head of Service of the Federation.

The source said since the permanent secretary reports directly to the HoS and not the Senate, it would amount to a breach of protocol for her to appear before the lawmakers without getting the consent of the HoS.

A pro Lawan group, in a statement by its spokesman, Senator Kabir Marafa, on Sunday, said that since Saraki had allegedly violated some sections of the Constitution to emerge as senate president, he could not accuse another person of committing the same offence.

The senator said,

“I read with open mouth amazement, the letter written by both the Chief of Staff to the Senate President and that of the Clerk to the National Assembly on the refusal or inability of a government functionary to honour the invitation of the “leadership” of the senate.

“They were saying the refusal violates section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Can somebody please tell them that they are guilty of similar, if not higher offence?

“They, in fact, not only violated the Constitution to ascend to the Senate leadership, they murdered it.”

The Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Senate President, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, declined to comment.

Punch.

Governor Kashim Shettima insists on Amnesty for Boko Haram

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday once again asked that the federal government grant pardon through a programme of amnesty to Boko Haram members

According to Thisday, Shettima's support for an amnesty programme for the terrorist group was re-emphasised at an interactive session organised by his Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy, Mallam Isa Gusau, with selected journalists in Abuja.

Gusau said Shettima's call was scientific and had been vindicated by a very desperate effort of Boko Haram leaders to stop their fighters from leaving their fold when a group of 16 members renounced the sect's ideology in Borno State following which they were slaughtered by the sect's leaders.

He said: "Governor Kashim Shettima was misunderstood by many Nigerians when in his May 29 inaugural remarks revisited his stance on the need to apply a political solution to fighting the Boko Haram by way of granting a window to admit those willing to surrender their arms and renounce the Boko Haram ideology.

"Shettima has held this position from his campaign days ahead of the 2011 elections for his first term. He had always advocated a combination of three approaches, which are: the military which is what we have in place, an economic approach which is aimed at providing jobs for people and discourage citizens that Boko Haram terrorists are recruiting."

"It is important to note that the governor has always advocated that the three approaches should be applied together not exclusively. However, the amnesty issue has been the controversial one. The governor is not really talking about dialogue as a start, what he is advocating is to create an opening for those ready to abandon the sect to be able to do so freely, so that the sect can be broken.

"He is very particular about hundreds, if not thousands of members that were conscripted or forced to join the sect and became killers against their wish. If attacks on all communities can be efficiently done, then there wouldn't be need for any debate on amnesty but we all have seen that many communities have continued to suffer from these attacks because the communities are so much, not only in Borno but round Nigeria and we don't have the right proportion of security personnel to secure all communities."

"When insurgents attack communities, they mostly target male youths, they arrest them and guard them into bushes. In most cases, even before taking them out of the towns they attacked, they preach in support of their ideology with promises of heaven for adherents and then openly ask aloud if any of the youths is willing to join them or not and whoever said he is not ready to join them, they slaughter him right there sometimes in the presence of his parents or they lay them on row and shoot all of them in matter of seconds targeting their skulls.

"We have seen many of these instances in videos recorded in Gwoza and other parts of Borno State. Now, what Governor Kashim Shettima has been saying is that hundreds of these forcefully arrested and initiated young men may want to run away and drop their arms and there should be a policy and programme to admit them so that insurgents lose members and their strategy of arresting youths and forcing them to join them which is what they apply in sustaining their membership, can be deflated and I think the governor's call on May 29 has been vindicated less than two weeks ago.

"You might have read it on most news platforms that on Friday, July 3, 2015, Boko Haram insurgents beheaded 11 of its members who renounced their ideology. According to accounts by some locals, what happened was that some members of the sect who are indigenes of some villages in Damboa Local Government Area indicated interest in abandoning the ideology but most of them were afraid of the consequences. Out of them, 16 summoned courage to renounce the ideology and they moved to Miringa village in Biu Local Government Area of Southern Borno. They wanted to join some communities like Ajigin and Talala in Damboa.

"The 16 insurgents went to Miringa on Friday, July 3 according to locals, then at night, commanders of Boko Haram sent a team to Miringa to fish out the 16 members that denounced the sect. The team went from house to house and got the 16 members intact. They didn't fire any shot in order not to attract soldiers. They took the members out of Miringa and slaughtered 11 of them and went away with five. The bodies of the 11 executed members were found the following day while the other five were not seen," he said.

Culled from Thisday

Serena Williams stuns at Wimbledon' Champions dinner (photos)

The 33yr old sports legend stunned in a peach-coloured floor-length gown at last night's Wimbledon Winners dinner. After beating Garbine Muguruza on Saturday, Serena became the oldest ever Wimbledon Champion and now holds the titles for the world's four major tournaments in one year.