Church Poster: 'End My SARS & Open My Warehouse Of Palliatives' (Photo)

This church poster spotted in Imo state has gone viral online for obvious reasons. The poster reads:

HAMMERS MISSIONARY BIBLE CHURCH Aka 'Jesus Never Bleep Up Ministry' Presents

A 3 day open heaven & one thank you night for all the single sisters:

Titled: O Lord! End My SARS & Open My Warehouse Of Palliatives

PST. URCH ACHUGO (General Superintendent)

Bishop Kelechi Kelechukwu (HOST)

Oyetola, Aregbesola Set For Showdown Over Clash Of Events In Osun This Week

* Governor's Loyalists Appeal To Buhari, Tinubu To Call Minister To Order

Temidayo Akinsuyi, Lagos

The simmering feud between Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State and his predeces­sor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Interior, may escalate this week and plunge the state into crisis, Daily Inde­pendent has gathered.

Credible sources said de­spite belonging to the same political family, the relationship between Oyetola and Aregbe­sola has “seriously collapsed and several efforts made to reconcile both men within and outside the state have failed to achieve the desired result”.

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, the source, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who is among those brokering peace between the duo, said while Oyetola, who was sworn in on November 27, 2018 has rolled out plans to mark his second anniversary, Aregbes­ola, on the other hand has also rolled out plans to celebrate 10 years of progressive gover­nance in Osun State.

According to him, even though the 10 years covers the eight-year tenure of Aregbesola as governor and Oyetola’s two years in office, the state government is not in the know as only the minister and his loyalists are the ones putting the plans together.

“The truth is, the situation is getting out of hand between the governor and the minister. We have been trying to man­age it but the truth is that the attitude of some of these key players hasn’t been helpful.

“The Osun State govern­ment will clock two years in office this week. The state gov­ernment has lined up some activities which includes commissioning of projects. However, we received reports that the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Aregbesola is also coming to Osun this week to celebrate what they called ‘10 Years of Progressive Gover­nance in Osun’ without con­sulting with the governor.

“We felt since they are both members of the same politi­cal party and family, if you are celebrating 10 years of APC coming to power in Osun, it is the responsibility of the state government to do that, not an individual; or at best, there should be a synergy between the incumbent governor and his predecessor. But I can categorically tell you that the minister is doing it without recourse to the governor.

“From intelligence report we have gathered, there is no way there won’t be crisis if both events take place at the same time because the sup­porters in both camps are al­ready threatening showdown. It was even alleged that some supporters of the minister masterminded the attack on the governor and his convoy last month using the #End­SARS protest as a cover. Many had alleged that the minister is remotely connected to the attack.

“We have appealed to the minister to shelve his event for some days to allow the state government celebrate the second anniversary this week but he won’t budge”.

Also speaking, a former Commissioner in Osun State, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said President Mu­hammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other APC leaders should call Aregbeso­la to order and allow peace to reign in the state. According to him, the minister has been unhappy over his failure to “entrench him­self as the political godfather of the state”.

He said Aregbesola was embittered that Oyetola reversed some of his policies such as the education policy which many residents of the state considered as “anti-people”.

He also said five days to the end of his tenure as governor, Aregbesola launched Osun Development Plan 2019-2028, a 10-year development plan which he wanted to foist on Oyetola, adding that the gov­ernor as a financial expert also has his own development plans.

“We are appealing to Pres­ident Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other APC lead­ers to call Aregbesola to order. Coming to Osun to celebrate 10 years of progressive gover­nance in Osun, the same week the state government is plan­ning to celebrate two years in office is just an avenue to cause trouble in the state.

“They are planning to bring in thugs from Ede, Ibadan, Ilesa and other plac­es to cause crisis in the state. Aregbesola is also planning to use his influence as Min­ister of Interior to bring in paramilitary officers such as Civil Defence, Immigration, Prisons and so on. There is no way the relative peace being enjoyed in the state will not be shattered if he is allowed to go ahead with his programme”, he said.

Efforts made to contact Is­mail Omipidan, Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Governor Oyetola proved abortive as calls and text messages sent to his mobile phone were not answered as at the time of go­ing to press.


However, when contacted, Media Adviser to Aregbeso­la, Mr. Sola Fasure, who con­firmed that his principal is planning to celebrate 10 years of progressive governance in Osun, said that Governor Oye­tola is aware and is also part of the programme.

He also said those accusing the minister of plotting to destabilise the state are mis­chief makers, adding that the relationship between Aregbe­sola and Oyetola is cordial.

“Yes, he is planning to cel­ebrate it. This is the 10th an­niversary of bringing in pro­gressive government to Osun. That includes eight years of his own tenure and two years of the current administra­tion. Is there anything wrong with that? Sincerely, I don’t even think we should be de­bating that.

“Like I said, it is 10 years of progressive administration which started with him as governor in 2010 and ended in 2018. It also includes two years of the present government. So, why would he now bring in thugs to disrupt the state?

“If he is celebrating 10 years of his tenure and that of his successor, which is an offshoot of his own tenure, why would he plan to disrupt it? It is just pure mischief to say he is planning to disrupt the state, a state for which he laboured. He spent four years to reclaim his mandate from PDP; then he spent eight years as governor, so why will he now be destabilising the state.

“I don’t think there is any crisis between the governor and the minister. His rela­tionship with the governor is cordial. They speak regularly irrespective of what you hear in the media. They also belong to the same political family of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

“The 10th year of that administration is significant, symbolic and it is worth cel­ebrating. I also believe that Governor Oyetola is also part of it”, he said.

#vanuguard

Onuesoke Criticises FG Over Plan To Import Petroleum From Niger Republic

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Sunny Onuesoke has described as embarrassing Federal Government’s plan to import petroleum products from Niger Republic.

Onuesoke, a former Delta State gubernatorial aspirant said that the pronouncement sounded unbelievable to him because Nigeria has four refineries while Niger Republic has only one.

Recall that Ministry of Petroleum Resources announced on Thursday that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Niger Republic to import petroleum products from desert country.

Reacting to the pronouncement while addressing aviation correspondents at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Onuesoke said it is a shame that Nigeria will import fuel from desert Niger Republic because Nigeria cannot maintain its four refineries, adding that what the pronouncement meant is that Nigeria could soon import cassava for her garri consumption.

“What a sad commentary. I watched Timipre Silva on television describing it as a good development that Nigeria would soon import petrol from Niger Republic. This is the true definition of incompetence, cluelessness and mediocrity. After five years of APC promise of change things get from bad to worse. Nigeria has four refineries but it is not its priority to make them work, but to import from a smaller and poor country. My feeling is that this government is bent on empowering Niger Republic for whatever reason. First it was a railway construction and now importation of fuel,” he lamented.


#vanguard

NNPC: Refineries Gulped ₦81.41 Billion, Refined Zero Crude For 8 Months

A total of N81.41bn was expended on Nigeria’s refineries between January and August this year but the facilities refined no drop of crude oil all through this period, latest data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation showed.

Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Port Harcourt Refining Company and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company posted a cumulative revenue of N6.54bn during the eight-month period.

With a revenue of N6.54bn and a total expense of N81.41bn, the facilities ended up with a deficit of N78.87bn, according to figures contained in the just-released August 2020 report of the NNPC.

Further analysis of figures from the latest report, as well as those earlier released by the corporation, showed that the revenue, expense and deficit of KRPC during the period under review were N6.22bn, N33.61bn and N27.39bn respectively.

PHRC posted a revenue, expense and deficit of N61m, N25.57bn and N25.51bn respectively from January to August 2020.

Similarly, WRPC earned a revenue of N257m, incurred an expense of N22.23bn and posted a deficit of N21.98bn during the same period.

It was further gathered that for 13 straight months, the facilities had been running without refining any volume of crude oil.

Data from the consolidated refineries operations put the volume of crude processed by the facilities from August 2019 to August 2020 at zero metric tonnes.

With a cumulative plant capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, the facilities posted a capacity utilisation of zero per cent all through the 13-month period.

However, the volume of crude they recorded as closing stock between August 2019 and August this year was 3.78 million metric tonnes.



For several years, Nigeria has been importing the bulk of its refined petroleum products as a result of the inability of its refineries to refine crude oil produced within the country.

On Thursday, the Federal Government revealed that Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, was set to resume the importation of petroleum products from a neighbouring country, Niger Republic.

The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources said in a statement that the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding for petroleum products transportation and storage.

It said following bilateral agreements between the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and his Nigerien counterpart, Mahamadou Issoufou, talks had been ongoing between the two countries for over four months – through the NNPC and Niger’s Societe Nigerienne De Petrole.

According to the statement, Niger Republic’s Soraz Refinery in Zinder, some 260km from the Nigerian border, had an installed refining capacity of 20,000 barrels per day.

“Niger’s total domestic requirement is about 5,000bpd, thus leaving a huge surplus of about 15,000bpd, mostly for export,” it said.

The national oil firm again explained in its latest monthly report that the declining operational performance of Nigeria’s refineries was attributable to ongoing revamping of the facilities.

It said the revamping of the facilities was expected to further enhance their capacity utilisation once completed.

Operators in the downstream oil sector as well as economists have repeatedly called for a fast revamp of Nigeria’s refineries in order to halt the continued importation of refined petroleum products.

The National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okonkwo, said, “Getting our refineries working optimally is so vital now to save us the continued depletion of our foreign exchange.

“I know the NNPC is working towards that and we hope the refineries will come onboard as soon as possible, because this might also help in reducing the cost of refined petroleum products.”

The Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr Muda Yusuf, noted that pronouncements by NNPC on the future involvement of the private sector in the operation of the country’s moribund refineries were commendable.

“This is another laudable initiative which will ensure that these national assets are put to use for the growth and development of our economy,” he said.

He, however, noted that one of the critical elements of the oil and gas sector reform, particularly the downstream sector, was the complete deregulation of the sector.

The LCCI boss explained that the reform of the downstream oil and gas sector would not only impact positively on local refining of crude but also create a number of advantages for the economy.

Yusuf said, “It will unlock the huge private investment potential in the downstream oil sector, especially in petroleum product refining.

“This will ultimately reduce importation of petroleum products and ease the pressure on the foreign exchange market as well as the burden on our foreign reserves.”

He stressed that the investment opportunities in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector were huge, considering the country’s crude oil reserves and the even bigger prospects in respect of its gas reserves.

According to him, Nigeria has been in the business of oil for over 50 years, but still does not have any private refinery operating on a commercial scale.

“This is a big issue. No oil-producing country imports refined petroleum products on a scale that we do in Nigeria. It is inexcusable,” the LCCI DG stated.

He added, “Pipelines are very critical infrastructure for refineries and for the sector, but the current ones are aging and have deteriorated due to poor investment and maintenance.

“Again, this is because the pipelines are in public sector space. The story of the petrochemicals and fertiliser plants are not different, although the latter has witnessed some measure of privatisation.”

Yusuf noted that the dominance of the public sector in this space had significantly slowed down the progress and development of the oil and gas sector.

He stated that the sector was so strategic that it could easily have provided the lever to accelerate the diversification of the Nigerian economy.


#punchng

Okorocha builds, commissions N48m skill acquisition centre in Abuja

Former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, last weekend commissioned a N48 million Skill Acquisition Centre he built at Karamajiji, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

Built under Rochas Care, an arm of Rochas Foundation, the Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District, claimed that it was a pet project by his children to empower the less privileged and downtrodden of the society.

While a total number of 31 participants from Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp graduated from tailoring, 15 Physically Challenged Persons from the Disabled colony trained on ICT, all at Karamajiji were empowered.

Speaking after commissioning the building, on what informed the basis for the project, Senator Okorocha explained: “This is Rochas Care programme, an arm of Rochas Foundation, a reach out and touch programme where we go to rural areas to uplift the lives of the downtrodden and the poor of the poor like Karamajiji.

“Today, we commissioned a skill acquisition centre built in their honour to train them in skills like computer, tailoring, salon, among others to empower them.

“We have realised that majority of our people live in the rural areas and somehow we are not area of the fact that we have many of them suffering there. Rochas Foundation is breaking the jinx by reaching out to these rural dwellers to touch the lives of the poor people.

“Coincidentally, the plan has been one for one month but within the period of planning, one of my son’s close ally and a son of my wife’s sister passed away. We decided to honour him by dedicating this skill acquisition programme building to him as Dozie Centre. However, the programme, primarily is about reaching out and touching lives and helping the poor and the less privileged in the society,” he said.

Asked if it has anything to do with 2023 presidential election, he said: “Well, it has nothing to do with politics or 2023 presidential aspiration. Rochas Foundation has been in existence before any presidential ambition. The foundation has existed for more than 25 years.

“We have also raised about 23,000 Nigerian children, empowering them with free education. It has nothing to do with politics but if politics is helping the poor it will be good if everybody plays it.

“As I said previously, it has nothing to do with 2023. Incidentally, these people may not even know what is happening and may not likely vote. What can a hungry person at the IDP do for anyone? We are here on humanitarian ground to help bring succour to the poor and the less privileged.

“It may be difficult to quantify in monetary terms what we have expended here. As I said before, we have over 23,000 children in our scholarship and we admit 2000 children to our different schools every year and that will give you an idea of what we spend.

“We have schools in Zaria, Jos, Kano, Adamawa, Calabar, Enugu, Owerri, Ibadan and many more states. In all the schools we have thousands of children going to school free. We provide accommodation, feeding and school uniforms. Teachers are paid and we have over 1000 teachers that we pay monthly in support of the Foundation.

“I never quantified what goes into it because more importantly, it is a spiritual thing. It is a covenant between me and my God, when I told God to bless me so that I can bless others, honour me so that I can honour others, give me so that I can share with those that don’t have because on my own, I can do nothing but can do all things through God that give me the strength,” he said.

#nairaland

‘I sold my goats, pigs ,other belongings to pay ransom ‘ ― father of ABU Kidnapped student

A father who paid a ransom to Kidnappers in a Kaduna forest before his child was released on Saturday, said he sold his goats, pigs and other valuables to raise the money.

The father, who was thankful to God for the development, was among other parents whose children were the 9 Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria students that were kidnapped along the dreaded Kaduna-Abuja highway last week.

Speaking to journalists, the happy father who would not like his name to be mentioned, said: “Some parents paid N1million, some paid over N1million, some paid N2milion, some paid over N500,000, depending on how each parent bargain with the kidnappers because they spoke separately with us.”

“Some parents were asked to drop their money at a particular place at Abuja junction and leave the place then somebody picked the money, counted it and notified the people in the bush that the money had been paid.”

“Four of us went to deliver the money but we didn’t know that we were all victims. After a series of bargaining, they said I should pay N1 million but I told them that I cannot afford to raise that amount. I told them I have over N500, 000 and they asked me to bring it. I sold my goats, pigs and other belongings to pay the money,” he said.

The parents said that they took the ransom to the kidnappers in the forest late hours Saturday.

“The amount varied from N500, 000 to N4million to get each of the children released …..while some were made to hand their ransom to members of the kidnap syndicate in Kaduna, others were contacted separately,.We were united by the kidnappers through phone calls at the Abuja junction. We were made to convey the ransom to the kidnappers’ enclave in the bush along the Kaduna-Abuja road.

“The kidnappers also asked us to bring Maltina and milk together with the money.

Another parent said, “they called on Saturday and said if I am not able to pay N1 million, they will kill my daughter or marry her or use her as a sex slave.”

“On arriving Kaduna we were told that security personnel were monitoring the bandits in the bush, but surprisingly, the bandits called us and told us to come and wait at Abuja junction.

“They sent us a telephone number to call. We called the number and the person came to take us to a car. Unknown to me the owner of the car is also a victim’s parent; his daughter was among those abducted.

“We drove along the Kaduna – Abuja road around 11 pm to deliver the ransom and other things. The Kidnappers also demanded crates of Maltina and cartons of milk from each us.”

“When we got to Dutse, we stopped at a junction leading to the bush. We met soldiers there and they stopped ordered us to sit down. The soldiers observed that all of us were carrying nylon bags and the items and they asked what were in the nylon bags. We told them that we are carrying money to pay ransom for the students that were kidnapped. The soldiers wished us safe journey to the bush and we parked the car at the junction. We trekked far inside the bush from Dutse and handed over the money to the Kidnappers and they released the girls to us.”

According to another father,” some of us paid N1million, some paid over N1million, some paid N2milion, some paid over N500,000, depending on how each parent bargain with the hoodlums because they spoke with each and every parent.”

“Some parents were asked to drop their money at a particular place at Abuja junction and leave the place then somebody picked the money, counted it and notified the people in the bush that the money had been paid. Four of us went to deliver the money but we didn’t know that we were all victims,” he said.

#vanguard

Chief Of Army Staff, Buratai, Directs Soldiers To Treat All Nigerians As Boko Haram Suspects

Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has ordered troops involved in counter-insurgency operations in the North-East to swiftly ready themselves to war mode.

According to Peoples Gazette, Buratai lamented a slack in personnel performance that had prolonged the war.

An internal army correspondence seen by the newspaper, titled: “COAS Special Order-01 Change to War Mode,” also directed soldiers deployed in ‘Operation Lafiya Doleé a special anti-terrorism combat squad to treat all individuals in the troubled region as Boko Haram suspects until properly identified.

“All persons must be treated as suspects unless fully identified and cleared especially in isolated, high threat areas, when on clearance operations and check point duties.

“We are not in peacekeeping operations, internal security operations or deterrence actions. This is real war fighting," the November 20, 2020, directive said.

OPLD Theatre Commander, Farouq Yahaya, also conveyed a follow-up from Buratai to the soldiers, directing them to “quickly identify” and “immediately neutralise” all confirmed terrorist elements.

Rights activist, Emeka Umeagbalasi, worries that the new methodology deployed by Chief of Army Staff portends grave consequences for human rights.

“If that directive is implemented, we are going to witness human rights abuses on an industrial scale,” Umeagbalasi told Peoples Gazette.

“The Nigerian Army’s counter-insurgency operations should be done within the confines of international best practices. Superior intelligence and crime detection must be applied considering Boko Haram’s asymmetrical style of operations in the North-East can’t be labeled as terrorists,” he added.

Military authorities had repeatedly assure since 2015 that the decade-long war against insurgency had been won, and the Nigerian Army was merely executing a mop up operation to extinguish remnants of Boko Haram in the North-East.

#saharareporters

PDP Leaders Begin Search For Secondus’ Successor

• Chair: I have lifted party to enviable heights

By Yusuf Alli, Abuja


The 2023 election permutations may consume the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Some governors, ex-governors and influential leaders have started the search for a successor to National Chairman Uche Secondus.

It was learnt that some PDP governors and leaders, who are under pressure from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to defect, are bidding time over the expected leadership change before making up their minds on what steps to take.

But Secondus has told the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party tbat his team improved the electoral fortunes of the PDP in the last three years, especially in the 2019 elections.

Apart from serving as an acting National Chairman between 2015 and 2016, Secondus assumed office on December 10, 2017.

His four-year tenure ends in December next year.

The “stress” in the party, which is fueled by 2023 aspirations, might lead to a change earlier than the exit date of the NWC.


It was learnt that those pushing for a change in PDP leadership felt the party has been weakened by the 2019 elections – the second in a row, that they were losing.

They also alleged that few governors and party leaders are dictating the pace in the party.

The same influential governors were alleged to have held PDP by the jugular such that Secondus and others are trying to create a level-playing structure in vain.

They also claimed that the party ought to start its reforms early, as the APC is doing.

They were allegedly worried that APC has been trying to make inroads into their party with more PDP leaders negotiating clandestinely with the ruling party.

A leader, who spoke in confidence, said: “It is true that APC is reaching out to more PDP leaders to defect. The return of ex-House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara to the APC has emboldened the ruling party.

“ I think they are trying to woo ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and a former President of the Senate. Some PDP leaders, who are discussing with the APC, are also waiting for the choice of the new chairman of the ruling party before their defection.

“The ex-Senate President may dump the PDP if ex-Governor Abdulaziz Yari energes the new APC national chairman.

The source added:” The PDP is muzzled at present by a few governors and leaders. Most PDP members are not happy by the state of things. These governors behave as if they own the party.

“The reality is that some governors and PDP leaders are secretly shopping for a successor to Secondus.

“They are saying if there is no leadership change, the APC may reduce the PDP to a carcass in the next one year.

A member of the PDP NEC said: “Secondus is not a sitting lame duck, he is as well forward-looking. He raised a committee headed by Governor Bala Mohammed to review the 2019 polls and what the party should do differently to win the presidency in 2023.

“Some grouses about some of our leaders are also that we have not been able to resolve crises in some states and strengthen the party in the Southwest, Northwest and in the Northeast.

“They are angry that Secondus leadership has not designed a counter-strategy to check APC incursions into PDP. It is obvious that APC, which is trying to recover from internal rumpus, is desperate to split PDP. “

Notwistanding, Secondus told NEC members last Thursday that his team had done well in three years.

He said: “When the current National Working Committee (NWC), under my watch came into office nearly three years ago, we based our programmes on 3Rs, to reposition, rebuild and to regain.

“I can confidently report to NEC that the programme is on course. We were able to reform the party ahead of the 2019 general election enough to take us to victory if the APC regime had allowed the will of the people to prevail.”

“The number of PDP governors increased from 11 to 16 and would have been more if not for APC’s electoral abracadabra in Osun, Kano, Kogi states and climaxed in Imo state with the shocking Supreme Court ruling.


At the National Assembly, as an opposition, we were able to attract into our fold the Senate President and 16 senators, the Speaker and more than 34 House of Representatives members ahead of the 2019 elections in addition to three sitting governors, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state, Dr Sam Ortom of Benue and Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state.

“All these were as a result of our repositioning of the party that made it a huge brand. We restored integrity to our primaries.

“On the off season elections, we won the governorship in Bayelsa and Edo. The party also prevailed in several by-elections in Sokoto, Cross River, Taraba and Rivers states.”

Secondus also confirmed that the party was reviewing the 2019 polls to become stronger in preparation for the 2023 poll.

He added:” In our last NEC meeting in February, some far-reaching decisions were taken, including the rationalisation of the party workforce to bring it to a realistic level as an opposition party. I wish to report that this was successfully carried out by the committee headed by Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state who did a good job and deserves commendation.

“In our last NEC meeting also, a special committee to review and appraise the 2019 general election was set up. The committee which is also headed by Governor Mohammed is already operational despite the delay caused by the COVID-19 lockdown.

“It is also necessary to bring to the attention of NEC that despite the disruptions from the COVID-19 lockdown, we have been able to conduct congresses in most of the outstanding states and frantic efforts are also on ground to resolve some disputes arising from them in few states.”

#nairaland

N25b Refund Pits Ubah Against Obiano

• Senator threatens legal action

The Federal Government’s N25b refund to Anambra State for its rehabilitation and reconstruction of federal roads has pitted Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (Anambra South) against Governor Willie Obiano.

Senator Ubah, at a news conference yesterday, gave Obiano 72 hours to address the people on why he discounted the promissory notes with about N8 billion ahead of their maturity dates.

Ubah threatened to sue the government if Obiano fails to heed his request.

The promissory notes were issued to Anambra State by the Debt Management Office (DMO) in December 2018 and April 2019 to the tune of N10.097 billion and N15.146 billion. They had maturity dates of December 28, 2020 and April 1, 2022.

Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment C-Don Adinuba, in a statement, denied that the state raised money from ‘the DMO or the Federal Ministry of Finance under a bond, or any financial instrument from any institution or organisation’.

But Ubah, who had documents to support his claims, insisted that the N25 billion was expected to be paid in two instalments.

He lamented that of the amount, only N16.1 billion was realised by the government after Obiano discounted the promissory notes at 15 and 13 per cent, through a commercial bank.

According to him, the state lost N8.85 billion after the promissory notes were acquired at discounted rates.

He said: “The governor paid banks over N8 billion to cash out the promissory notes before their maturity dates, thereby ensuring that Anambra lost the amount from the transactions.”

According to the documents obtained from the DMO by Ubah, the amount and tenor of the first promissory note was N10,097,722,436.90 and issued on December 28, 2018, with a maturity date of December 28, 2020.

The second promissory note of N15,146, 583, 655.00 was issued by the DMO on April 1, 2019, with a maturity date of April 1, 2022.

The letter from the DMO to Ubah reads: “…these were the only promissory notes issued to the Anambra State government which fully settled the outstanding claims of the state as approved by the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly.”

Ubah also alleged that ‘in order for Governor Obiano to cash out on the N25 billion that hadn’t matured, he terminated the deal by giving up 15 and 13 per cent of the total sums per annum.

He added: “The governor paid about N3 billion in bank charges for N10 billion on the first promissory note and N4.5 billion on the second promissory note of N15 billion.”

The lawmaker, however, vowed to petition the House of Assembly and sue the governor should he fail to explain to the people why he threw away N8 billion in his rush to cash out the money before the maturity dates.

He also told the governor to explain what he did with the N16 billion he collected after making the state lose N8 billion as discounts, and why he allegedly lied about the funds.

#nationonline

Nasiru Ado Bayero Assures Ugwuanyi Of Safety Of Igbos In Kano State

…Preaches unity, one Nigeria, brotherhood 

...Hails governor on peaceful co-existence with Northern community in Enugu

The Emir of Bichi, Dr. Nasiru Ado Bayero, has expressed gratitude to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State for the peace the Northern community has been enjoying in the state, under his administration.

The Emir of Bichi told Gov. Ugwuanyi that his administration’s commitment to national integration and peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians in Enugu State, irrespective of tribe, religion and political differences is “well acknowledged”, adding that “we will not forget that; we will be grateful to you forever”.

Dr. Ado Bayero also appreciated the traditional rulers in Enugu State, stressing that based on “your relationship with the Northern community in your own local communities, our reports from them have been positive; so we are very grateful”.

Speaking when Gov. Ugwuanyi played host to him at the Government House, Enugu, the Emir, who is the younger brother to the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, used the opportunity to assure the governor that “back in Kano State, we will protect your interest; we will make sure that any Igbo man or any other Nigerian who lives Kano is safe.

He maintained that “our relationship has grown beyond now and we will not allow this to grow any bad situation”.

The Emir therefore lauded Gov. Ugwuanyi for his hospitality and uncommon leadership style anchored on peace, security, inclusive and good governance.

Describing his visit to Enugu State as a homecoming, he narrated the enduring relationship his late father, Ado Bayero, enjoyed with his Igbo friends, especially when he was the Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) for over 20 years. 

He disclosed that his visit to the state was “to build that bridge between the Northern Nigeria and this part of Nigeria, the East”, stressing: “We shall continue to build that bridge; we shall continue to make sure that Nigeria remains one and despite all of these, we shall remain brothers by the grace of God”.

Enugu State is in the hands of God!