The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday fixed Nov.15 to determine the no-case-submission filed by former president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Sani Lulu and three others accused of mismanaging N1.3 billion. The others are Amanze Uchegbulam, a former first vice president, Taiwo Ogunjobi, a former executive committee member and NFF former secretary-general, Bolaji Ojo-Oba. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused persons had earlier lost in their bid to get the Court of Appeal to quash the charges.

Part of the charges against them include alleged unauthorised payment of estacodes/allowances of $800,000 to 220 delegates to the World Cup in South Africa as against 47 delegates approved for the trip. They are also accused of mismanaging N900million World Cup funds belonging to the NFF, purchase of luxury buses for the Super Eagles at over-inflated prices and incurring a $125,000 fine in South Africa over a botched deal with a hotel.

At the resumed hearing, counsel to the accused persons, Chief Sunday Ameh (SAN), announced to the court on the pending motion of no-case-submission. “My Lord, my clients have filed a joint no-case-submission on about three grounds why they should not stand this trial. “We have duly served the prosecution team and some responses received from them.

“We will be glad if the court allows us to move the motion with the hope of getting this case behind us,’’ he said. However, the move was immediately countered by the prosecution counsel, Mr Titus Ashaolu (SAN) who cited some unresolved variables. According to him, the prosecution is yet to respond to all the matters raised in the motion by the defence counsel. The Judge, Justice Evon Chukwu, ordered all the parties to file written addresses on the matter for onward presentation at a later date.

“Having agreed on the date to appear next in court, the matter is hereby adjourned till Nov. 15 for the adoption of your written addresses,’’ he said.

The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Mr Alan Yarrow on Thursday expressed the readiness of the UK business group to partner and support high valued projects in Lagos State.

Yarrow stated this when he led a team from the United Kingdom on a courtesy visit to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state at his office in Ikeja.

He said a large number of businesses in the UK were interested in investing in the economy of the state,

Yarrow noted that, Lagos, as the commercial capital of Nigeria, with its huge population and secured environment was desired destination for business.

Yarrow said, ”In view of the strategic importance of Lagos to the Nigerian and African economy, the UK business group is ready to identify with the new administration in terms of public and private partnership.

”This will help us explore different areas of business collaboration and investment opportunities available as well as support some high value projects in the state.

”Our investors are willing to collaborate in the areas of maritime, alternative and renewable energy, film industry as well as infrastructural development in the area of health and education.”

Yarrow stressed the need for the support of the state government in areas of security, appropriate policies and enabling laws to protect their investment.

* As Obasanjo emerges Leadership Person of the Year
* Borno Gov wins Governor of the Year

ABUJA—Former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, has said that Nigeria’s quest for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council may remain elusive as long as the country was yet to overcome basic economic and security challenges.

Gambari, who spoke at this year’s Leadership Award and Conference in Abuja, noted with dismay that Nigeria had not been able to overcome its basic challenges more than 100 years after its amalgamation.

The renowned diplomat, who is the founder of the Nigerian-based Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, SCDDD, regretted that the nation was still grappling with nation-building when it should be consolidating on its growth and development as a leading black nation on earth.

Gambari lamented that it was a paradox that Nigeria, the world’s eight largest exporter of crude oil, endowed with many precious resources, still had more than 70 per cent of its population living below the poverty line and remained a relatively poor country in the world.

‘Difficult for Nigeria’
The former top public servant said that it would be difficult for Nigeria to take a permanent seat at the world’s body with the barrage of challenges still starring it in the face.

Gambari said: “We cannot lay claim to a permanent seat at an enlarged United Nations security council when the Nigerian Armed forces have not been able to demonstrate exemplary capability in the Defence of our territorial integrity.”

He pointed out that the myriads of challenges hanging on Nigeria’s shoulders needed to be urgently addressed by the leadership if progress was to be made and take the country into a new era of progress and prosperity.

To be able to achieve success, Gambari suggested that the negative forces working against the country must be deliberately and urgently tackled to pave the way for peace, security and development.

He said: “In reclaiming Nigeria, the use of overwhelming force to degrade the military capacity of the terrorist group, the mobilization of neighbouring countries and the West African sub-region to collectively fight the scourge and to drain the swamp which is to embark not only on massive relief of the victims but on socio-economic recovery and reconstruction of the areas of the country that have been devastated by the activities of the terrorist group.

Youth unemployment
“Furthermore, youth unemployment has to be tackled head on so that extremist groups would not be able to recruit from a pool of unemployed youths for violent extremist actions.
“It is difficult to exaggerate the fact that Nigeria needs intensified efforts at peace-building in various parts of the country; hence public policy must respond to and apply effective peace-building strategies to existing and emerging area of crisis in the country.
“More importantly are the economic implications of continued terrorism and insurgency in the Northeast for Nigeria’s international economic relations as security is a critical demand for any rational investor-local or foreign.

Potential of being a great nation
“It is obvious that Nigeria has the potential and possibility of being a great nation as well as a significant player in the comity of nations. However, the realization of that noble objective would continue to elude us so long as these enemies of the Nigerian state hold sway.

“Nigeria, as the pre-eminent black and African must not only fashion a grand design but also the appropriate strategy of achieving that design, but also the appropriate strategy of achieving that design.

“Neither complacency nor wishful thinking or for that matter mere verbalisation of our ambition can lead us to our cherished goal.”
According to him, these constraints among others, consist of political fragility, political volatility, ethnic and religious mistrusts, intolerance and violent extremism.

He said: ”As if these were not enough ,recently the international market prices of the crude oil dominated mono economy of the beleaguered federation nose- dived thereby further compounding the fate of a country evidently at the crossroads.“

He further explained that of all the vices which had reared their ugly heads in enmity against the Nigerian state, ethnicity or rather the wrong use of ethnicity, ranked as one of the most dangerous.

“In my view no measure can blunt ethnic jingoism and advance the cause of national unity more than a determined, honest and manifestly fair effort to treat all Nigerians, irrespective of their ethnic origin, equally before the law as well as the promotion of and respect for the human rights of all Nigerians,” he said.

Boko Haram menace
The former Nigerian Permanent Representatives to the United Nations noted that the menace of Boko Haram represented one of the greatest threats to the Nigerian state and national security by negatively using religion and sectarian violence to undermine the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

The former UN agency boss also took a swipe at the nation’s successive leaders, saying they were either inept at combating corruption or were out rightly corrupt themselves.

Chairman on the occasion and former Health Minister, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, said in reclaiming Nigeria, citizens must redefine the terms under which the Nigerian people engaged with one another.

Adeluyi said: “We need to redefine for ourselves the terms under which we the Nigerian people will engage; we need to address the structural faults that the union presently has.

“We simply need now to demonstrate that Nigeria’s leaders can team up, come together and pull together with passion and compassion to work for the good of all Nigerians. We need to redefine for ourselves the terms under which, we the Nigerian people will engage ourselves. We need to forge ahead with the urgent tasks of catching up with the rest of the world which has continued to move ahead in leaps and bounds.”

Obasanjo, Borno Gov
He commended the Chairman of the Leadership Group, Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah, describing him as an entrepreneur of boundless optimism and uncommon focus and a former Presidential aspirant as well as being on Board and Management of the paper for the foresightedness and thoroughness in selecting recipients for the award.
Among the top awardees of the event is former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who bagged the Leadership Person of the Year, while Borno State governor, Shettima emerged, the Leadership Governor of the Year.

SaharaReporters has confirmed from the Attorney General’s Office in Switzerland that the United Kingdom has requested Mutual Legal Assistance from Swiss authorities for the detention of Kola Aluko.

Mr. Aluko is the alleged money launderer for the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

SaharaReporters broke the news earlier today that Kola Aluko has holed himself up in his regal estate in southern Switzerland after learning of Alison-Madueke’s arrest in the United Kingdom. Alison-Madueke and four others are confirmed to have been arrested by agents attached to the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK for bribery and other financial crimes.

In an email to SaharaReporters, Nathalie Guth of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said, “I can give you the additional information, that the OAG has received a request for mutual assistance from England.” Mrs. Guth bolded ‘from England’ to emphasize that it was the UK, not Nigeria, requesting Mr. Aluko’s detention.

This communication from the Swiss Attorney General’s Office contradicts reports earlier from Reuters news that it was Nigeria which had requested the assistance from Switzerland.

SaharaReporters spoke with Femi Adesina, the Senior Special Adviser for Media and Publicity to President Buhari, who told SaharaReporters that he did not want to comment on whether Nigeria requested mutual assistance from the Swiss because he did not have all the information.

SaharaReporters also called Mr. Aluko’s home phone number, +41919402714, but it has been disconnected since our last communication with his employee yesterday.

A call to the Home Office department in charge of Mutual Legal Assistance did not yield any result, as the officer who answered our call said he could not provide information about MLAs but the office confirmed they knew of Mr. Aluko.

The request to the office of the Swiss Attorney General was necessitated by rumors earlier today that Mr. Aluko had been arrested by Swiss authorities.

SharaReporters has obtained photos and details of a multi-million dollar home in Switzerland owned by Kola Aluko, a suspected money launderer for former President Goodluck Jonathan and Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Mr. Aluko’s palatial home is nestled in the beautiful canton of Ticino, in southern Switzerland. Ticino is renowned for its mild winters and boasts some of the highest number of sunshine hours in Switzerland.

In a week when UK law enforcement authorities arrested Mrs. Alison-Madueke in London and agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) searched her homes in Nigeria, Mr. Aluko was reportedly holed up in his Swiss mansion located at Catonale 17, 6948 Porza in Tocina, according to a source familiar with his whereabouts. Mr. Aluko is famous as one of the hitherto obscure individuals dusted up by the former Petroleum Minister to be fronts for her shady billion dollar schemes in the oil sector. A flamboyant man, Mr. Aluko relished his meteoric rise to stupendous wealth, purchasing villas, expensive cars, and a yacht, dating former supermodel Naomi Campbell, and partying with movie and entertainment stars in the UK, Europe and the US.Kola Aluko’s mansion in Ticino

SaharaReporters had written several reports about Mr. Aluko’s role as one of the launderers of billions of dollars illicitly cornered by the embattled former Minister of Petroleum and former President Jonathan.

An investigation by SaharaReporters pointed to a falling out between Mr. Aluko, on the one hand, and Mrs. Alison-Madueke and Mr. Jonathan, on the other. The major contention was centered on Mr. Aluko’s indiscreet and flashy lifestyle, which triggered the former minister’s fears that his opulent acquisitions and taste could attract unwanted attention. According to sources close to both parties, the relations between Mrs. Alison-Madueke and her front soured badly after Mr. Aluko was seen in numerous photographs accompanied by Ms. Naomi Campbell. They said Mr. Aluko stopped traveling to Nigeria and absconded with a massive amount of looted money he was supposed to launder for Mr. Jonathan and the former Petroleum Minister. Kola Aluko’s Yacht named “Galactica Star”

Intelligence documents leaked to SaharaReporters described Mr. Aluko as a “money launderer” and “money manager,” for elite politicians in Nigeria—especially Mrs. Alison-Madueke. The documents claimed that Mr. Aluko purchased several real estate properties in Los Angeles and New York for as much as $23 million. SaharaReporters has also learned that hip-hop power couple, Jay Z and Beyoncé, spent a vacation on Mr. Aluko’s $50 million yacht.

Mr. Aluko’s Swiss estate, known as Villa Rezzonico, is described by one Italian language newspaper as having “an area of 1,400 square meters, dozens of rooms, and is surrounded by a park of 4,700 square meters with a swimming pool, fitness area and several oases for relaxation.” The paper described the villa as “one of the most beautiful architectural relics of the early twentieth century or twentieth century in Switzerland.” The newspaper identified Mr. Aluko as the new owner of the mansion, adding that he carried out significant renovations and equipped the property with a sophisticated security system.

As part of our ongoing investigation into Mr. Aluko’s role as a money launderer, our correspondent rang his home number, +41 91 940 27 14. An employee who answered the call confirmed that Mr. Aluko lived at the house, but claimed he was “unavailable to speak on the phone.” This employee told our correspondent that she would pass the message to Mr. Aluko. However, he did not return our call at the time of this publication.

Mr. Aluko’s sudden wealth came from his ownership of Atlantic Energy, a shady firm that received generous oil export contracts from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) six months before it was legally established as a company. Mrs. Alison-Madueke also recommended the award of at least five oil blocks to Atlantic Energy.

SaharaReporters has learned that Mr. Aluko also owns Tenka AG, a company based in Zug, Switzerland that was formed in late 2012. Tenka AG is described as a food and hospitality company and owns a capital of 500,000 Swiss francs.

Yesterday, Nigerian leader, Muhammadu Buhari hinted that the Swiss and the UK government were collaborating with Nigeria to retrieve some of its stolen wealth and bring perpetrators of financial crimes to justice. A Reuters news report confirms that the Swiss Attorney General has confirmed requests by the Nigerian government to arrest Mr. Aluko.Kola Aluko is friends with Hollywood “A- listers” and international model, Naomi Campbell

Vladimir Putin marked his 63rd birthday Wednesday with a focus on Syria, as supporters sang his praises — comparing him to a range of heroic figures from Buddha to Batman.

The Russian president has been back in the international limelight since launching a bombing campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria last week, much to Washington’s chagrin.
Putin marked the occasion by holding a meeting with his defence minister before taking to the ice in the Olympic city of Sochi to play hockey with government officials and sports stars.The strikes followed Putin’s first address at the United Nations General Assembly in a decade and ended a period of isolation over Moscow’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine last year.

Ordinary Russians and celebrities traditionally sing Putin’s praises on his birthday, and this year was no exception, with rapper Timati releasing a new video clip extolling the return of his “best friend” to the big stage.

“He is in charge, so everything will be according to plan,” the lyrics say. “My best friend is back in the game.”

The state-owned Rossiya 24 rolling news channel ran a ticker saying “Vladimir Putin marks his 63rd birthday.”

Supporters also rolled out a new exhibition of flattering paintings, depicting Putin in various heroic guises, including the black-clad Matrix protagonist Neo, the Buddha in lotus position, Che Guevara in his black beret and Mahatma Gandhi.

The “Putin Universe” exhibition also shows him as artist Salvador Dali, space pioneer Yury Gagarin, sleuth Sherlock Holmes, comic book superheroes Batman and Hulk — and even French saint Joan of Arc.

“Vladimir Putin’s character is the embodiment of heroism, fairness, slyness, intellect, courage and charm,” the exhibition organisers said in a statement.

Milos Kojic, a Serbian political expert who helped put together the display in central Moscow, told AFP: “We just want to thank him for the job he is doing for the whole planet.”

Kojic said the paintings were the works of Putin admirers who are members of his fan group on Facebook.

The same fan group was behind a similar exhibition last year, designed to symbolise Putin’s achievements and comparing them to the “12 Labours of Hercules”, the Greek demigod renowned for his strength.

PROTESTS at state levels greeted Tuesday’s announcement of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees by the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

Saraki at plenary announced 21 names as contained in the ministerial list sent to him on September 30, saying the screening of the nominees would commence on Tuesday, October 13.

But from the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders came a petition to the Senate against the nomination of a former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola. Indeed, CACOL’s petition had been dated Saturday, October 3, asking the Senate not to confirm Fashola “should his name pop-up as a ministerial nominee.”

In the petition signed by the CACOL’s executive head, Debo Adeniran, copies of which were sent to Buhari and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the group urged the senators to visit Lagos, as governed by Fashola, before screening and confirming him for any appointment as a minister.

The group therefore catalogued a number of fraud and corruption allegations, most of which it had before now levelled against Fashola.

Also, an anti-corruption group known as Integrity Group has petitioned the President and the Senate to protest the nomination of a former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, as a ministerial nominee.

The group accused Amaechi of alleged fraudulent practices during his tenure as governor.

The group urged Amaechi to first clear his name over “allegations of fraud concerning the sale of state power plants and conversion of proceeds of $302m, unlawful payment of over N4bn to Clinoriv Specialist Hospital and unlawful enrichment of a firm, Messrs Collect Nigeria Ltd. with public funds amounting to over N1.5bn.”

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, the Publicity Director of the group, Mr. Livingstone Wechie, alleged that Amaechi was currently being investigated by anti-corruption agencies for unlawful enrichment and conversion of over N70bn state resources.

He added that the former governor had resisted efforts to make him to explain the circumstances regarding the money to the people of Rivers and that he failed to appear before the Justice Omereji-led Judicial Commission of Enquiry set up by Amaechi’s successor, Governor Nyesom Wike.

In Oyo State, the ruling All Progressives Congress asked on Buhari to revisit his nomination of a legal practitioner, Adebayo Shittu, claiming that the ministerial-nominee was not a team player in the party.

It was learnt that Governor Abiola Ajimobi was opposed to Shittu’s choice but the APC state secretary, Mojeed Olaoya, told one of our correspondents in Ibadan, the state capital, on Tuesday that the issue was between the nominee and the APC and not with the governor.

Responding to the opposition of his candidacy, however, Shittu said he contributed to the success of the party and that he had nothing against Ajimobi.

Olaoya said, “This is the party talking and not the governor. It was the party that wrote a letter to the governor asking him to convey our message on Shittu’s nomination to the President. We have published paid advertisement in the newspapers stating our position on Shittu’s matter.”

The party stated that despite the state’s contribution to President Buhari’s victory at the poll, it was not being adequately compensated. It stated in the advertorial that Shittu’s nomination had further compounded the political challenges being faced by the party because of the nominee’s “unacceptability among the people.”

Saraki said on Tuesday that the screening of the nominees, 21 in all, would commence on Tuesday, October 13.

He said this during Senate plenary after reading out the names of the nominees.

Spokesperson for the Senate, Dino Melaye, also told journalists shortly after plenary that the upper legislative chamber would in the interim called for the profiles and other documents on the nominees in order to ensure thorough screening.

He said, “While we want to expedite action, we also want to be very diligent and thorough in the screening of the ministerial nominees. We want to ask for the citation and profile of the nominees so that senators can study the resume of the nominees and this will guide us in asking questions and guide our deliberations when we start the screening.

“We want senators to have enough time to study submissions by the nominees so that relevant questions could be asked during the screening exercise. It is also from the Curriculum Vitae that we will be looking at possible portfolio that the President may be giving to the various nominees.

“The screening exercise would be taken live on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and it would not be influenced by political or religious affiliations.”

Fashola, Ogbeh, Amaechi…

Earlier in plenary, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, had unveiled the much awaited nominees, reading out names that had been correctly speculated in the media.

Buhari’s 21 nominees, as read out by Saraki, include Abubakar Malami (SAN) (Kebbi); Abdurahman Bello Dambazzau (Kano); Aisha Jumai Al Hassan (Taraba); Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Kwara); Babatunde Raji Fashola (Lagos); Adebayo Shittu (Oyo); Solomon Dalong (Plateau); Senator Chris Ngige (Anambra); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); and Chief Audu Ogbeh (Benue).

Others are Mrs. Amina Ibrahim( Kaduna); Dr. Osagie Ehaneri (Edo); Emmanuel Kachukwu (Delta); Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Mr. Suleiman Adamu (Jigawa); Mrs. Kemi Adeosun (Ogun); Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi); Ahmed Isa Ibeto (Niger); Ibrahim Usman Jibril ; Senator Hadi Sirika (Katsina); and Senator Udo Udoma (Akwa – Ibom).

Saraki said the nominees would be screened during plenary on Tuesday.

But the Minority Leader of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, who raised a constitutional point of order noted that it was constitutionally wrong for Buhari to send 21 names as ministerial nominees, instead of 36.

Saraki noted the observation of Akpabio and explained that the President had already noted in his letter that the complete list would soon be forwarded to the red chamber.

Buhari not for screening

Melaye denied reports that Buhari would be screened by the Senate since he had appointed himself as the petroleum minister.

He said, “We are not going to screen President Buhari but ministerial nominees. The insinuation that he would be screened as minister of petroleum is baseless and untrue. It’s a product of imagination of people with inordinate ambition.

Melaye, who said he could not ascertain whether the Senate had received any petition against the ministerial nominees, said all petitions received would be treated accordingly.

“I cannot say how many petitions had been received. Petitions on nominees will form basis for the screening,” he said, adding however that the Senate would be able to do a better job if the President would furnish it with the expected portfolio of the nominees.

Senators react

Senator Jeremiah Useni, in an interview with journalists, said having only three women on the ministerial list was not good enough.

“I wish to see more women on the list. I believe that the President will be more gender sensitive in the next batch since he said the 21 names he sent is a partial list,” he said.

He also ruled out the possibility of giving special considerations to either serving or past members of the National Assembly whose names are on the list, saying “there is no rule on the issue of take a bow. The fact that the seventh Senate adopted a convention does not mean that the Eight Senate will adopt same.”

But the Senator representing Delta North, Peter Nwaboshi, in an interview with journalists, expressed disappointment that the list contained names of older men and women who had served as ministers about 36 years ago.

He said, “I think the youths of Nigeria should ask questions. How can people who served as ministers during the former President Shehu Shagari’s administration in 1979 be presented as ministers? I was a small boy when the particular nominee was minister about 36 years ago. You are bringing the person to be minister now.

“One would have expected that the younger generation would have been injected into the list. I wonder where we are going to in this country. When will the youths be given opportunity?

“We already know all the people in the list. They are governors who just finished their tenure after eight years. Is that the change they are talking about? It is left for Nigerians to judge.

‘Buhari never told me I would be minister’

A former Governor of Ekiti State, who is one of the ministerial nominees, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has described his nomination as a surprise.

He told reporters at the national headquarters of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja on Tuesday that Buhari never gave him a hint about being nominated in spite of closeness to the President.

The former governor served as the Director of Research and Strategy in the Buhari 2015 Campaign Organisation.

In response to a question as to whether his nomination came to him as a surprise, Fayemi said, “Well, to the extent that I was not told by the President that I was going to be on his list, yes, it came as a surprise. The President is a surprise master; let me put it that way.

“He did not tell anyone to the best of my knowledge and I would have thought that I was in vantage position to know more than others, I was with him for five days before then.

“I was with him in New York at the United Nations General Assembly and he never uttered a word about his list to me nor to anyone else.

“We came back to Nigeria together, I was with him up till 4pm on the evening he submitted the list to the President of the Senate and I didn’t have any clue of what is going to happen. So, to that extent, I was pleasantly surprised.”

Another Ekiti ex-governor, Segun Oni, said Buhari had proved to all that he was not only a statesman but also a loyal party man.

He said, “The President is a party member and his thinking is always along with the party and he has always been saying so.

“You will know that the President, on his own, knows the party and he wants to involve the party as much as possible and he has done that. No one can complain now because you will see that the leaders that we will want to see are there and we are very grateful to the President.”

Another suspected Boko Haram sponsor, Aliyu Hussaini, who has also been parading himself as a military brigadier general has been arrested.

The Nigerian Army in a statement on Tuesday said that Hussaini was arrested by soldiers of the 33rd Artillery Brigade in Bauchi State during a raid.

The statement read, “The 33 Artillery Brigade, Nigerian Army, has recorded another landmark success in the ongoing Operation Zaman Lafiyah as troops of the brigade recently arrested one Aliyu Hussaini, popularly known as Colonel, a suspected Boko Haram terrorist and an Impostor who has been parading himself as a Brigadier-General in the Nigerian Army.

“The troops, who were acting on a tip-off, said Aliyu Hussaini was a sponsor and also a member of the Boko Haram terrorist organisation. (They) carried out a raid operation, which led to the successful arrest of Aliyu and another suspected Boko Haram member, one Ibrahim Mohammed, who is also known as Yuram.

“It was later gathered that Aliyu had been defrauding innocent citizens (with the claim) that he was a general in the Nigerian Army.”

The military had earlier today announced the arrest a financier of the terror group in Bama, Borno State. It was reported that the sum of one million naira and other items were found on the suspect.

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote on Tuesday said that he had no interest in actively participating in politics, saying business and politics should never be mixed.

Dangote, the Chairman of Dangote Group, made this known while speaking with newsmen during a condolence visit to the Awolowo family over the death of Mrs Hannah Awolowo (HID) at the family’s residence in Ikenne-Remo, Ogun.

The business mogul said that the set of skills required to become successful in business differed from those of politics.

“I can’t be in politics because they say when you want to clap you need two hands.

“If all of us in business go into politics then who is going to create the jobs?

“We are in the private sector so we should be creating jobs. Government should be creating good policies and also ensuring that we are not taking advantage of the poor.

“They are doing what they know how to do best and we are also doing what we know how to do best. Each is a master in its own terrain,” Dangote said.

He advised that Nigerians should not worry too much about fall in oil prices, saying that the economy would soon become stable through the austerity measures adopted by government.

“During the oil boom, when a barrel of oil sold above 100 dollars, there were too many leakages which the Federal Government is now trying to resolve by plugging them.

“When this is effectively achieved, I believe the economy will begin to regain its stability.

“However, we must begin to explore other avenues to wealth aside from crude oil, especially agriculture which we were formerly used to. We really should not be complaining.” he said.

Dangote, however, called on the Federal Government to implement policies that would attract investors and enable manufacturing sector to thrive and fast-track economic growth.

Mr Femi Otedola, another business man, was in Dangote’s entourage.

Both men described the late HID Awolowo as a great woman whose name would forever remain immortalised in the nation’s history.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said his administration would enact new policies to diversify Nigeria’s economy from oil to other sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing.

The diversification, according to the President, will be captured in the 2016 national budget.

President Buhari gave the hints at a meeting with a delegation of French investors under the aegis of Movement of the Enterprises of France, MEDEF, led by its President, Mr. Pierre Gattaz, in Abuja, yesterday.

It will be recalled that President Buhari had, during his visit to Paris three weeks ago, met with the investors who assured him of a visit to Nigeria on investment survey.

President Buhari said the policies currently being evolved by his administration would boost domestic manufacturing and attract greater investment to Nigeria’s agricultural and mining sectors.

He urged Mr. Gattaz and the French trade mission, which houses over 50 companies with interest in manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructure development and other areas, to return to Nigeria next year and take full advantage of the new policies.

Raising hope of stamping out insecurity which provokes fear in foreign investors, President Buhari also assured the French investors  that under his leadership, Nigeria would not fall short of international standards in the protection of foreign investments and the repatriation of returns on such investments.

He said: “We are doing  our utmost best to encourage diversification into non-oil sectors, which can employ a lot of people and we will welcome your support in this regard.”

“Ultimately, reducing unemployment will also help to improve security because unemployment and insecurity are inseparable,” President Buhari told the French investors.”

A statement by the Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu further quoted the President as saying “that Nigeria will also welcome more French investments in its power sector”, stressing that ”availability of steady power supply will lead to the reopening of closed factories and the creation of more jobs.”

The statement also assured the delegation that the present administration was tackling corruption with vigour to ensure greater probity in the management of national resources.

The MEDEF President, who spoke on behalf of the French investors, had earlier raised concerns on the safety of their planned investments in Nigeria and the easing of bureaucratic bottlenecks.

ABUJA—Strong indications have emerged that today’s plenary session, where the Senate would unveil the ministerial list sent by President Muhammadu Buhari, may be stormy as senators are saying the President must, in line with the constitution, submit himself before the Senate for screening if he appointed himself Minister of Petroleum.

They are also set to reject an incomplete list, saying the constitution provides for a nominee from each state of the federation and that any list that did not cover the 36 states would suffer serious opposition on the floor of the Senate.

The senators have also vowed that they would not be cowed by the trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, just as they promised to adopt stringent measures in line with the provisions of the Constitution during the screening of ministerial nominees.

They added that the tradition of take-a-bow for senators coming for screening as ministers would be jettisoned, adding that they were prepared to send names of nominees to the sender of such a list.

Senate President, Dr. Saraki, is currently facing trial at CCT, following a 13-count charge levelled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, bordering on alleged corruption and false declaration of assets in 2003 and summoned him to appear before it, which he did.

‘We’ll stick to rules’

Speaking with journalists yesterday in Abuja, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Abia North, who noted that the list was expected to be complete, in line with the Constitution, said: “The list will be unveiled tomorrow( today). The Senate President kept to his words that the envelope will remain sealed until tomorrow (today).

“We know that all we have been reading could be speculations until it is opened. It will be read on the floor of the Senate and we will know. Even the 21 that people are speculating will be ascertained tomorrow (today) on the floor.

“The Constitution does not support ministers by batches. Every state must be represented but if the number is not complete, some of us may raise constitutional issues. If we have to wait for another three months for him to send another list comprising representatives of other states, it means those states would be non-functional.

“We will be guided by the constitution and the rules of the senate. This time around, we resolved that we are going to be quite stringent. We are going to ensure that whoever is coming as the minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must be somebody worth the salt; somebody we can rely upon and somebody that would have met the constitutional requirements.

‘We’ll stick to the rules’

“We are not considering waving any rule. Why should we wave the rule? If we want to do that, it should be before the screening. I believe that at the end of the day Nigerians will be happy because some Nigerians are already saying that the names being speculated were not what they have been waiting for these five months.

“This government has tagged itself as the government of change. If that is the cardinal thing, it will be against this Senate and, indeed, against the President and Nigerians for us to see a very strong allegation that hinges on corruption and we ignore it. If we see a strong petition, definitely we will look into it and follow it to a logical conclusion.

“If it requires writing to the anti-graft agencies like ICPC or EFCC to give us a report on such a person, we will do that because that is what screening is all about. Screening is not a tea party. In Cross River State the appointees are going to write aptitude test.”

Days of take-a-bow over

On the President’s decision to appoint himself as Minister of Petroleum, he said: “I do not think the President’s name will be on the list and I also do not think that the President will say he is a minister because if you are a minister, one of the conditions is that you must be subjected to screening and approval of the Senate.

“He, as the chief minister, can be there to supervise any ministry, but he cannot be a minister. Whoever is advising him to be minister is not advising him rightly.”

Chairman, Senate ad hoc Committee on Publicity, Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West): “In our screening of ministers, it will not be business as usual. The era of take a bow and go are over. The right people will be made ministers without any political or religious consideration.”

A Crown Magistrate court sitting in London has acceded to the request of the United Kingdom government to confiscate cash seized from the immediate past Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Acting through the country’s National Crime Agency (NCA) the British government on Monday also sought and got approval of the court to apply the same measures to the other four suspects arrested alongside the former minister last week.

Alison-Madueke and the others were briefly detained on Friday by the agency on allegations of bribery and money laundering and sources told THE NEW DIPLOMAT that a two pronged investigations into her activities as minister is being carried out by the Federal Government and its British counterpart.

The identities of the other four people arrested along with her remain unknown but it is believed that they will also suffer the same fate with the former minister who is said to be undergoing trial in London.

She had been fingered in series of official sleaze that characterised her regime in the ministry, a situation that prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to state last month that those who misappropriated funds belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would soon be prosecuted.

At the resumed hearing of the trial on Monday, the UK Government told the Westminster Magistrates Court and was approved under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Indications have also emerged suggesting that the two governments of Nigeria and the UK have begun investigations into her activities in office.

Investigations have begun in UK about two years ago by NCA who had adopted a convert strategy in a way not to ruffle the existing diplomatic relations between the two countries under the government of Goodluck Jonathan.

UK government had to move with her arrest and those of others last week, even though a comprehensive probe had been conducted into her real estate acquisitions in the UK in the past.

However on Monday, the Court said no formal charges have been filed against Deziani and the others who are yet to be identified publicly.

The former Minister and others, who were all granted bail, were not in court during the filing.

There are strong indications that ministerial nominees, whose names were sent to the Senate on Wednesday, have started reaching out to senators ahead of their screening by the upper chamber.

Our correspondent learnt on Saturday that some of the nominees, including former governors, had sought the support of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and other senators.

It was gathered that the nominees were wary of the hard stand senators could take against them during the screening that would start this week.

It was learnt that they have been pleading for soft landing during the screening, which the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, had confirmed would start on Wednesday.

A senator from the North Central, who craved anonymity, said he was aware that some nominees had reached out the senate president and other members of the upper chamber.

The senator, who declined to name those who had reached out to him, said he did not think that his colleagues would give any nominees a tough time during screening.

On the alleged plot by some senators from the Peoples Democratic Party controlled states of Ekiti and Rivers to kick against the clearance of the ministerial nominees from their states whose names had been published in the media, the senator said that would be handled by the senate leadership.

He said, “Don’t forget that several precedents on similar issues had been set by the Seventh Senate when the then Senate President, David Mark, ignored protests by senators from Lagos, and Osun, against the nomination of two ministerial nominees and went ahead to clear them.”

Another senator from the North-East geopolitical zone, also confirmed to our correspondent on condition of anonymity that there were moves by the senate leadership to settle the face-off between it and the Presidency with the clearance of ministerial nominees.

He said, “Definitely we have to move the nation forward. If the President is saying that these are the people that I have picked, after a painstaking process, who could work with me, why should we deliberately constitute ourselves as stumbling blocks?

“Although some of them may have issues with their stewardship while they held sway as governors, the question is, is anyone among them being investigated by any anti – graft agency?

“Nobody is a saint. I am not one either. The senate president had appealed to us that we should jettison politics of vendetta in the screening of the ministerial nominees and I am prepared to heed his advice.

“Personally I will play my part by asking relevant questions and responses to them would make Nigerians know that we are not clearing the wrong persons at the end of the exercise”

Nobody will play politics with screening –Akanbi

In his own reaction, the APC member representing Oyo South Senatorial District, Senator Adesoji Akanbi, said no senator would play politics with the screening of the ministerial nominees in the overall interest of Nigerians.

Although Akanbi neither denied nor confirmed whether any of the nominees or their godfathers had reached out to him, he said, “The fact that some of the people whose names had been published in the media have been reaching out, is a possibility in politics”

He added, “Nobody in his right senses will deliberately play politics with a sensitive issue like the screening of ministers. This is not the time for anybody to say he wants the legislature to hit back at the executive or the presidency over the current relationship between the two tiers of government.

“I am not saying that we should not do our jobs as lawmakers, what I am saying is that we should not deliberately frustrate the clearance of ministerial nominees, that does not also mean that those who fall short of expectation in glaring circumstances should not be dropped”

We will ask them questions on morals —Melaye

Meanwhile, the senate spokesperson, Dino Melaye, in an interview with our correspondent on the issue, urged Nigerians to await the reading of the list by the senate president before expecting the official reaction of the upper chamber.

He, however said that, “Questions for the nominees won’t be based on their educational qualifications alone but will also on their morals, character and antecedents because we won’t allow Nigerians to accuse the Senate of approving somebody with questionable character as President Buhari’s minister”

It will be recalled that Saraki, had on Tuesday, last week, pledged that his leadership would not employ vendetta in the screening of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s wise men.

Saraki had said, “As we await the list of ministerial nominees this week, I believe the presence of ministers will create the space for greater policy engagement with the Executive Arm of government.”

However, the senate spokesperson, Senator Dino Melaye, told journalists after plenary last week Tuesday that the screening of ministerial nominees would not be business as usual in the 8th Senate.

He had said, “We are eagerly waiting for the ministerial list from Mr. President and we want to assure Nigerians that as soon as we get this ministerial list we would start working on them expeditiously but diligently.

There were indications, yesterday, that a former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, arrested and released in the United Kingdom, on Friday, on money laundering allegations, may be charged to court, this week.
And feelers showed that she will not be the only person in the dock.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that besides the four other persons arrested with the former minister, more suspects may also be arraigned.
Meanwhile, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) detectives, who raided the Abuja home of Allison-Madueke, just at about the time of her arrest in the UK, on Friday, reportedly recovered cash running into millions of Naira.
The trial is expected to be conducted in London and is likely to draw thousands of Nigerians resident in the United Kingdom (UK) but no date was specified, last night, when Sunday Vanguard made contacts with the National Crime Agency (NCA), which arrested and released Diezani and the four others on Friday.
An official of the NCA gave indication of the trial in a telephone chat but pointed out that the identities of all the suspects would only be unveiled at the point of charging them to court.
The official explained that the law establishing the NCA does not allow it to name those being investigated before charging them to court.
The official said: “Indeed we cannot name the five persons who were arrested and granted police conditional bail until we are ready to charge them to court.
“The law does not permit us to do so and we will release appropriate information to the media as the case progresses”.
But it was learnt from sources close to the British government that the NCA might have concluded arrangements to arraign Diezani and other suspects believed to be mostly Nigerian oil business men, suspected to have aided and abetted money laundering while the former minister was in office.
One of the sources said the British Government started investigating Diezani as early as 2013 following sustained allegations of financial wrongdoings at home and abroad, leveled against her and some officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
In the meantime, a team of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives, which raided the Abuja home of the former minister in Asokoro, Abuja, was said to have recovered cash running into millions of Naira from the place.
But a source close to the operation said only N1.2 million was recovered.
The security agents, who stormed the home, on Frederick Chiluba Street, Asokoro, in six vehicles, reportedly gained access to the expansive mansion with the aid of some former security aides of the embattled former minister.
The team allegedly gained access to the well fortified house using one of the windows.
Reports said Diezani had not been sighted near the palatial home since leaving office in May but had been staying in the United Kingdom, where she reportedly sought medical attention over an undisclosed ailment.
In updated information on its website, yesterday, the NCA disclosed that investigation of the suspects was initiated in 2013 by the Proceeds of Corruption Unit, which transferred the matter to it early this year.
The agency said that the suspects were merely granted what it called “conditional police bail” pending further investigation to be conducted in the UK and overseas.
It was learnt that the EFCC, which has a working pact with UK anti-corruption agencies, swopped on Diezani’s home and recovered vital documents, which it hopes to use to prosecute her when the trial begins in London.
According to the NCA’s website, the International Corruption Unit (ICU) investigates bribery of foreign public officials by individuals or companies from the UK and money laundering by suspected corrupt foreign officials and their associates.
The ICU also traces and recovers the proceeds of international corruption, support foreign law enforcement agencies with international anti-corruption investigations; engages with government and business to reduce the UK’s exposure to the proceeds of corruption.
It works to support increased compliance with the Bribery Act 2010 and draws on the specialist support available to it within the NCA, while also working closely with other UK law enforcement agencies and overseas partners.

The immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, was on Friday arrested in London, PREMIUM TIMES can exclusively and authoritatively report.
The former minister, who was one of the most powerful officials of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, was arrested Friday morning by the UK National Crimes Agency, alongside four other people.
The identities of the four other people arrested along with her could not be immediately ascertained.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt she was arrested for offences related to bribery, corruption and money laundering.
Two top British officials in London confirmed the development to this newspaper. They requested not to be named because they had no permission to speak on the issue.
When contacted, the British High Commission in Nigeria confirmed that some arrests were made Friday but declined to disclose the identities of those involved.
Joseph Abuku, Press and Public Affairs Officer, said, “This morning, five people between the ages of 21 and 60 were arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption offences. The crimes are being investigated by the National Crimes Agency.
“The National Crime Agency does not confirm identity at arrest nor provide information that could be used to corroborate the identity of an arrested individual.”
It is not clear whether the former minister was arrested based on request from the Nigerian government.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on September 27 hinted that those who misappropriated billions of naira belonging to Nigeria’s state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation would soon be prosecuted.
Mr. Buhari said at a meeting with President Xi Jinping of China in New York that his administration was determined to fully sanitize Nigeria’s oil industry and make it totally free of corruption and shady deals.
The President did not, however, say how soon the prosecutions would start or if indeed investigations had been concluded and whether culpable individuals had been identified.
The NNPC under the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was involved in several shady deals, many of which have been cancelled by the present government.
However, Mrs. Alison-Madueke, accused of several corrupt dealings, has stayed away from Nigeria since Mr. Buhari was sworn-in as president.
A controversial minister
Mrs. Alison-Madueke was first appointed into the federal cabinet in 2007.
A former director at Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, she was appointed Minister of Transport by late President Umaru Yar’adua. In December 2008, she was redeployed to the mines and steel development ministry.
After former Vice President Goodluck Jonathan became acting president, Mrs. Alison-Madueke was appointed Nigeria’s first female petroleum minister in February 2010, a position she held till May 29, 2015 when Mr. Jonathan left office.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s tenure as petroleum minister turned out one of Nigeria’s most controversial, amid unending allegations of corruption.
Under her watch, dubious oil marketers stole trillions of naira of oil subsidy money. She retained her position after the House of Representative investigated the scandal and indicted the minister.
Probes by independent audit firms, including the KPMG and Pricewaterahousecoopers, confirmed billions of dollars of oil money were missing, the most notable being $20 billion in 2014.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke also supervised an awfully corrupt NNPC, which several shady deals had been exposed by PREMIUM TIMES several investigations and confirmed by government and independent auditors.
Long before her stint in the oil and gas sector, Mrs. Alison-Madueke was investigated by the Nigerian Senate on allegation she paid N30.9 billion to contractors while she held office as transportation minister.
In 2009, the Senate also indicted Mrs. Alison-Madueke and recommended her for prosecution for allegedly transferring N1.2 billion into a private account of a toll company without due process.
Regardless of the mounting criticisms against her stewardship, Mrs. Alison-Maduke got elected in November 2014 as the first female president of oil cartel the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The former minister consistently denied any wrongdoing.
In June, after leaving office, she rejected all allegations of embezzlement, saying she never stole from Nigeria.

The Senate will on Wednesday decide the procedure for screening ministerial nominees submitted to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, who said this in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents on Thursday in Abuja, assured Nigerians that the screening of ministerial nominees would not be delayed by the upper legislative chamber.

Ndume said that the screening by the Senate would be thorough just as the nomination process adopted by the Presidency was.

“It will appear on the Order Paper on Wednesday morning and the Senate will set up the necessary legislative procedure for the screening exercise. I wish to assure Nigerians that the screening exercise will be thorough just the way the nomination process was thorough.”

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had on Wednesday confirmed receipt of the ministerial nominees list from the Presidency.

Already media speculations had indicated that 21 names were contained in the list and that a former Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola; and a former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, made it.

Also said to be on the list are Kayode Fayemi, a former governor of Ekiti State; a former governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige; and a one-time governor of Abia State, Ogbonaya Onu, among others.

Saraki also on Thursday said the process of lawmaking in Nigeria would no longer be business as usual.

He said he would ensure that the National Assembly under his leadership was people-oriented.

The Senate president spoke in an interview with State House correspondents shortly after taking part in an event to mark the country’s 55th independence anniversary inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said, “I am hopeful and confident that the future is very bright. In the next few years, things will be even better.

“It will not be business as usual. We will ensure that the National Assembly will be people-oriented and will make laws that will make impact on Nigerians.”

In a separate interview, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, said the nation had been progressing on the right path.

“We will make it by the grace of God. We are on the right path,” he said.

But the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, told reporters that the nation had finally discovered that it had been on the wrong path for long.

He said the nation had finally moved to the right path.

“At 55, we have finally discovered that we are on the wrong road. We have finally moved to the road that leads to progress, hope, employment, prosperity and that will lead to Nigeria finally attaining that greatness that God destined it for. We are on the way,” he said.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress member representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Hamma Missau, said on Thursday that his colleagues, and not Senate President, Bukola Saraki, prevented Senator Ahmad Lawan from becoming the Senate Leader.

Missau told journalists in Abuja that the APC caucus in the Senate had no option but to align with the position of their North-East colleagues who insisted on Senator Ali Ndume as their preferred choice for the seat.

He said the South-West caucus of the party for instance, had no issue with the choice of Senator Olusola Adeyeye as the Chief Whip by the party hence they elected him as their leader even when his name was on the party’s list submitted to the Senate President.

Misau, therefore, said that Saraki should not be blamed for the inability of Lawan to emerge as Majority Leader of the Eighth Senate as proposed by the leadership of the APC.

He explained that rather than blame Saraki, aggrieved party members should focus attention on the North-East caucus of the APC in the Senate, who overwhelmingly voted against the party’s choice.

“Out of the 11 Senators who are members of the caucus, eight voted for Ndume while three voted for Lawan and since politics is a game of numbers, the candidate with majority of the senators emerged as leader,” he said.

Misau noted that the explanation became necessary in view of the belief that the senate president deliberately antagonised the party leadership by refusing to name Lawan and the others into leadership positions.

He said, “Many people did not know or understand what happened then. Truly, many of us prefer Ndume to Lawan. The fact that Ndume contested the post of Deputy Senate President and at that time and he sought the support of most senators, made it easy for him to get our support.

“In any case, Senator Lawan never told anybody that he was interested in the post of the majority leader. We therefore voted for a person who actually lobbied and sought for our support. So, we take responsibility for our decisions. Nobody should blame the Senate President.

“The Senate President is just first among equals. He represents one district like every other senator. He is not like a state governor or President who has executive powers and discretion to select ministers and commissioners.

“The Senate President must always do what the senators want and must even carry along his colleagues at all times. Saraki is very popular among us today because he is always respecting our opinion and usually doing what we want.

“He has a way of relating to all of us as equals that we are and trying to aggregate the overall interest and position of majority in taking decisions. So, when we said we wanted Ndume as Senate majority leader, he could not have done otherwise.”

ABUJA—There are feelers from the Presidency that the remaining 15 names of ministerial nominees will hit the Senate early next week after what sources described as ‘laborious’ security checks and vetting of the prospective nominees.

The high-wire tension and expectations with which Nigerians awaited President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees have been doused with his submission of names of 21 nominees to the Senate.

As of last night, the various security agencies were said to be working frantically to beat the new deadline said to have been given to them by the President.

Vanguard gathered that the security checks on the remaining nominees are being carried out within and outside Nigeria.

The President on Wednesday forwarded to the Senate, names of 21 nominees for confirmation, with a promise to send the others in due course.
Each state of the federation is, by virtue of the constitution, entitled to a ministerial slot in the federal cabinet.

Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that the Presidency insisted that more background checks be conducted on the nominees, especially against the backdrop of the need to avoid making mistakes in appointing the wrong persons into the cabinet.

It was further learned that the names of those transmitted to the Senate on Wednesday were those whose background checks had been concluded.

“It is not certain when the checks on the remaining 15 will be completed. This explains why the President, in his independence anniversary speech, did not give a time frame because it is dependent on when the security agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, will conclude their job on the nominees,” a source said last night.

The source said the 21 names already with the Senate had gone through the same process, adding that the issue had taken so much time because of the need to do a thorough job.

“If the President had his way, the process of appointing ministers would have long been concluded but the security people handling the checks pleaded for time to do a thorough job,” a reliable source told Vanguard.

Horse-trading
Apart from the checks, Vanguard investigation also revealed that the cause of the delay in submitting the 15 names is the horse-trading still going on within the All Progressives Congress, APC, over their nomination.

It was further learned that there was no consensus yet on the choice of the nominees by leaders in their states.

Next batch hits Senate next Tuesday – Garba Shehu

In his reaction last night, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the next batch would be sent to the National Assembly, Tuesday.

He said: “To be honest with you, I have been travelling in the last two days. I came in early today (yesterday). I am not privy to any list. However, every government from 1999 till date under this constitution, has not given the names of ministers from day one.

“They (ministerial nominees) have always been sent to the National Assembly in batches, this is nothing extraordinary. Where is the balance? I do not know. May be by Tuesday next week when they come back, they (National Assembly) will probably have the balance waiting for them but if it will take a longer period, the President will decide that.”

Although the Senate is yet to officially make public names of the 21 nominees forwarded to it by the President, media reports reeled out names, including Dr. Chris Ngige (Anambra), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Gen. Abdurrahman Dambazau, retd, (Kano), Aisha AlHassan (Taraba), Ogbonnaya Onu (Abia), Kemi Adeosun (Ogun) and Abubakar Malami, SAN, (Kebbi).
Others are Senator Sirika Hadi (Katsina), Adebayo Shittu (Oyo), Sulaiman Adamu (Jigawa), Solomon Dalong (Plateau), Ibe Kachikwu (Delta), Osagie Ehanire (Edo, Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa Ibom), Ahmed Isa Ibeto (Niger), Ibrahim Jibril, Audu Ogbeh (Benue), and Amina Mohammed (Kaduna).

I doubt the names reported by the media – Babatope
However,former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said he doubted the authenticity of the list. He said: “I am not a member of the APC. What comment do I want to make on people who are not members of my party? I do not know them, I only know them by their names. All I can say is to wish them the best of luck when they are appointed. Anyway, they have not all been appointed. Buhari told us that he would be releasing their names piece-meal, so we will wait for the rest of the names. We do not know if the list is authentic because the President of the Senate said he would disclose their names on October 6, so, let us wait and see what happens.”

Be patient with Buhari – Ogunlewe
Former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the President as far as the ministerial list is concerned.

Ogunlewe said: “It is at the discretion of the President to send the names but we must first commend him. Why can’t we wait till October 6 because all these things we are reading are speculations.

“What Saraki said is that he has the list sealed and that he would not allow anybody access the contents until Tuesday. My suggestion is: Let everybody wait because we do not know the number of names on the list. We have to be patient with our government and reasonable. It is not every time we criticise, that is my own position.”

Buhari wants  the best – Fasehun
Founder of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, said: “Probably the President does not want to over work the Senate. That is why he is taking his time in sending the names, making it to look as if he has embraced a piecemeal method. As a man with a vision of what he wants for the country, I want to believe that the President is not in a hurry to send all the list because he wants the best hands for the job.”

Also reacting, retired Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, urged Nigerians to support the President in his war on graft, saying “we hope and pray that the corrupt and selfish elite will repent and give Buhari maximum support to take Nigeria to the next level.”

Nothing unique – Odumakin

National Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin said, yesterday, that President Buhari would have submitted the names of the ministerial nominees at Eagle Square rather than to the Senate.

Reacting to the speculated names of possible ministers, Odumakin, who noted that there was nothing unique about the list, said the President did not surprise anyone.

According to him, the names are not worth waiting for a period of four months.

“There is no excitement or surprise in the list. They are mostly run-of-the-mill people that do not warrant the nation waiting four months. Those names could have been submitted at Eagles Square on May 29.”

Buhari didn’t  need to wait this long —Sen. Urhoghide
Senator Matthew Urhoghide (PDP, Edo South) shared Odumakin’s views. He said it was not necessary for President Buhari to have waited this long before coming up with the list he made available.

According to Senator Urhoghide, the persons whose names were submitted have been around and known to the President, especially the nominee from Edo State, Osagie Ehanire.

Urhoghide, who noted that though the character and personality of the nominees were not in doubt, said what was paramount was performance as ministers.

The House of Representatives has summoned the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to explain why it awarded a N6.5billion Ayetoro shoreline protection contract without monitoring its implementation.

A construction firm, Gallet Nigeria Limited and Dredging Atlantic Limited (DAL), will also appear before the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), when constituted to explain its role on the Ayetoro Shoreline Protection contracts.

The lawmakers’ decision on Wednesday followed the adoption of a motion by Kolade Victor Akinjo (PDP, Ondo) who regretted that despite the commitment by the Federal Government, the contractors handling the embankment project refused to live up to expectation.

He said: “As at today September 30, 2015, almost all Ilaje communities occupying the Atlantic coastline are flooded (overrun) due to water from tempestuous oceanic surge.

“These communities include Ayetoro, Ori-Oke Iwamimo, Seja Odo, Seja Oke, Lepe, Yaye, Olotu, Idiogba, Gbabijo, Erunona and Magbenwa among several others.

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Reps summon NDDC, firm over failed Ilaje shoreline project
Reps
The House of Representatives has summoned the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to explain why it awarded a N6.5billion Ayetoro shoreline protection contract without monitoring its implementation.

A construction firm, Gallet Nigeria Limited and Dredging Atlantic Limited (DAL), will also appear before the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), when constituted to explain its role on the Ayetoro Shoreline Protection contracts.

The lawmakers’ decision on Wednesday followed the adoption of a motion by Kolade Victor Akinjo (PDP, Ondo) who regretted that despite the commitment by the Federal Government, the contractors handling the embankment project refused to live up to expectation.

He said: “As at today September 30, 2015, almost all Ilaje communities occupying the Atlantic coastline are flooded (overrun) due to water from tempestuous oceanic surge.

“These communities include Ayetoro, Ori-Oke Iwamimo, Seja Odo, Seja Oke, Lepe, Yaye, Olotu, Idiogba, Gbabijo, Erunona and Magbenwa among several others.

October 1st is a day for joy and celebrations for us Nigerians whatever the circumstances we find ourselves in because it is the day, 55 years ago; we liberated ourselves from the shackles of colonialism and began our long march to nationhood and to greatness.

No temporary problems or passing challenges should stop us from honoring this day. Let us remind ourselves of the gifts God has given us. Our Creator has bequeathed to us Numbers – Nigeria is the ninth most populated country on the planet. We have in addition:

· Arable land
· Water
· Forests
· Oil and gas
· Coastline
· Solid minerals

We have all the attributes of a great nation. We are not there yet because the one commodity we have been unable to exploit to the fullest is unity of purpose. This would have enabled us to achieve not only more orderly political evolution and integration but also continuity and economic progress.

Countries far less endowed have made greater economic progress by greater coherence and unity of purpose.

Nonetheless, that we have remained together is an achievement we should all appreciate and try to consolidate. We have witnessed this year a sea change in our democratic development. The fact that an opposition party replaced an entrenched government in a free and fair election is indicative of the deeper roots of our democratic system. Whatever one’s views are, Nigerians must thank former President Jonathan for not digging-in in the face of defeat and thereby saving the country untold consequences.

As I said in my inaugural speech, I bear no ill will against anyone on past events. Nobody should fear anything from me. We are not after anyone. People should only fear the consequences of their actions. I hereby invite everyone, whatever his or her political view to join me in working for the nation.

My countrymen and women, every new government inherits problems. Ours was no different. But what Nigerians want are solutions, quick solutions not a recitation of problems inherited. Accordingly, after consultations with the Vice President, senior party leaders and other senior stakeholders, I quickly got down to work on the immediate, medium-term and long-term problems which we must solve if we are to maintain the confidence which Nigerians so generously bestowed on us in the March elections and since then.

As you know, I toured the neighboring countries, marshal a coalition of armed forces of the five nations to confront and defeat Boko Haram. I met also the G7 leaders and other friendly presidents in an effort to build an international coalition against Boko Haram. Our gallant armed forces under new leadership have taken the battle to the insurgents, and severely weakened their logistical and infrastructural capabilities. Boko Haram are being scattered and are on the run. That they are resorting to shameless attacks on soft targets such as I.D.P. camps is indicative of their cowardice and desperation. I have instructed security and local authorities to tighten vigilance in vulnerable places.

On power, government officials have held a series of long sessions over several weeks about the best way to improve the nation’s power supply in the safest and most cost effective way. In the meantime, improvement in the power supply is moderately encouraging. By the same token, supply of petrol and kerosene to the public has improved throughout the country. All the early signs are that within months the whole country would begin to feel a change for the better.

Preliminary steps have been taken to sanitize NNPC and improve its operations so that the inefficiency and corruption could be reduced to a minimum. Those of our refineries which can be serviced and brought back into partial production would be enabled to resume operations so that the whole sordid business of exporting crude and importing finished products in dubious transactions could be stopped.

In addition to NNPC, I have ordered for a complete audit of our other revenue generating agencies mainly CBN, FIRS, Customs, NCC, for better service delivery to the nation. Prudent housekeeping is needed now more than ever in view of the sharp decline in world market oil prices. It is a challenge we have to face squarely. But what counts is not so much what accrues but how we manage our resources that is important.

We have seen in the last few years how huge resources were mismanaged, squandered and wasted. The new APC government is embarking on a clean up, introducing prudence and probity in public financing.

At an early stage, the federal government addressed the issue of salary arrears in many states, a situation capable of degenerating into social unrest. The APC government stepped in to provide short-term support to the owing states and enabled them to pay off the backlog and restore the livelihood of millions of Nigerians.

Fellow Nigerians, there have been a lot of anxiety and impatience over the apparent delay in announcement of ministers. There is no cause to be anxious. Our government set out to do things methodically and properly. We received the handing over notes from the outgoing government only four days before taking over. Consequently, the Joda Transition Committee submitted its Report on the reorganization of Federal Government structure after studying the hand over notes. It would have been haphazard to announce ministers when the government had not finalized the number of ministries to optimally carry the burden of governance.

Anyway, the wait is over. The first set of names for ministerial nominees for confirmation has been sent to the senate. Subsequent lists will be forwarded in due course. Impatience is not a virtue. Order is more vital than speed. Careful and deliberate decisions after consultations get far better results. And better results for our country is what the APC government for CHANGE is all about.

I would like to end my address this morning on our agenda for CHANGE. Change does not just happen. You and I and all of us must appreciate that we all have our part to play if we want to bring CHANGE about. We must change our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and public trust. We must change our unruly behavior in schools, hospitals, market places, motor parks, on the roads, in homes and offices. To bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citizens.

Happy Independence Celebrations. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.