Buhari To Attend Son’s Grand Wedding Fatiha On Friday
President Muhammadu Buhari is all set to attend the wedding Fatiha of his son, Yusuf Buhari; and his bride, the daughter of the Emir of Bichi, Zahra Bayero on Friday in Bichi, Kano State.
The grand wedding is set to hold on August 20 at the Bichi Emir palace in Kano state at 1.30 pm after the Friday prayer, which is expected to be attended by prominent personalities from within and outside the country.
The chairman, organising committee for the wedding and coronation arrangement, Shehu Ahmed, made this known while briefing newsmen in Kano on Wednesday on the activities lined up for the two important events.
He also revealed that Governor Abdullahi Ganduje is expected to present staff of office to the Emir of Bichi, Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero, on Saturday, 21st August 2021.
“We have two historic events on Friday and Saturday in Bichi — that is the wedding Fatiha of Buhari’s son with the daughter of Emir of Bichi. President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to grace the wedding Fatiha of his son and the daughter of the Emir of Bichi in Bichi town on Friday,” he said.
He said a special prayer session would also be conducted at the Central Mosque, Bichi, by 4:30 pm.
BREAKING: Man Drags Dangote To Court For Allegedly Getting His Wife Raped And Drugged
A Businessman simply identified Kevin Ajenifuja has dragged Nigeria’s richest man, Aliko Dangote to Court for allegedly getting his wife raped and drugged in order to steal his Trade secrets, Fresh Court documents reveal.
According to Court Documents courtesy of Peoples Gazette, Ajenifuja disclosed that Dangote reportedly made arrangements to drug his wife and got youngmen to sleep with her with the intention to steal his business trade secrets.
BACKGROUND
Mr. Ajenifuja had developed the technique and process of a sector exchange-traded funds for Africa in June 2004, after over 10 years of research. The project reportedly drew the attention of Mr. Dangote.
The businessman, in his court filings on August 2nd 2019, alleged that Dangote connived with some World Bank Group employees, precisely on February 8, 2010, to invite his then wife to a meeting at a Catholic mission in Washington, D.C., area where she was allegedly given illicit drugs.
The wife, Anita was given opioid medications daily subsequently becoming addicted to them. She engaged in extramarital affairs with young men in Washington and this was used to blackmail her into turning against her husband.
She eventually handed over his trade secrets to Mr Dangote.The World Bank has since denied the allegations and the court rejected Mr Ajenifuja’s lawsuit because it was statute barred.
The lawsuit also stated that Mr Dangote resigned as the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2014, a year before the expiration of his term, “to conceal his involvement,”.
“On information and belief Defendant Dangote resigned to conceal his involvement in what happened to Plaintiff and Anita Koepcke,” Mr Ajenifuja said in court documents.
DISCOVERY
Mr Ajenifuja said it was around December 20, 2014, that he searched for the missing copies of the trade secrets and suspected that they had been stolen by Mr Dangote via Anita.
He alleged that the trade secrets were sold to Vetiva Funds Managers Limited, Lagos, one Mr Dangote had a close business relationship with.
Nnamdi Kanu: Simon Ekpa threatens APC Chieftain, Joe Igbokwe With Death
Simon Ekpa, a self-acclaimed disciple of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has threatened a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Joe Igbokwe with death.
Ekpa, in a tweet on Wednesday told Igbokwe to ‘Get ready to Die’ because of his stance against Kanu.
The finland based pro-secessionist tweeted; “Joe Igbokwe get ready to die because Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Tongue is powerful, his friends and families should take note and don’t accuse innocent people when nature takes its stand. He should’ve done spiritual consultation first.”
Igbokwe, who is an aide to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is known for opposing the position of IPOB and Kanu. The APC chieftain celebrated the re-arrest of Kanu in an African country believed to be Kenya.
Transfer News: Chelsea want £25m for out-of-favour star with Tottenham lurking
As per a report by Sky Sports (h/t Daily Mail), Kurt Zouma is one of the several defenders on the transfer radar of Tottenham Hotspur, but Chelsea could make the deal difficult.
West Ham United also held an interest but it seems like Spurs are the latest entrant in the race for the 26-year-old centre-back. The Blues are looking for approximately £25million in transfer fees for him.
Thomas Tuchel’s side is eyeing Jules Kounde. And any fee obtained for Zouma would then help in paying the Sevilla star’s £68million release clause.
Trevoh Chalobah was superb against Crystal Palace on the opening day of the Premier League, and that can seal the end of the ex St-Etienne defender at Stamford Bridge.
Spurs want Zouma
However, one possible hurdle in any deal that sees Zouma head to N17 would be Roman Abramovich. The Russian owner is said to be against selling players to their bitter rivals.
Talking to TalkSPORT (h/t Daily Mail) in the past, Carlton Cole recalls the time he even completed a medical at Tottenham, only for Abramovich to call him back and halt the move.
Carlo Cudicini is the only Chelsea player to move to Spurs since 2003- doing so as a free agent in 2009. (imago Images)
“I almost joined Spurs. I went and did my medical and everything. Roman Abramovich found out and he said ‘you’ve got to come back, you’re not joining them’. He said ‘you can’t go to Spurs, I don’t do business with them’.”
If the Lilywhites are paying the fee that Chelsea want, then perhaps the club would be wise to let Zouma go there. It is evident that the club wants to offload him and with deadline day approaching soon, there may not be many options to choose from for Marina Granovskaia.
Nigerian Governors Forum Kicks Against Buhari’s Assent Of PIB
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has kicked against the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that the Nigerian leader signed the controversial bill into law as confirmed in a statement on Monday by his spokesman, Femi Adesina.
Defending the President’s action after many criticisms, the Presidency said the new law can still be reviewed and was still open to amendments.
Reacting to the President’s assent to the bill, the governors described the new law as a recipe for disaster which will plunge the country into more woes.
In a letter signed on Tuesday by its Chairman and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, the forum said there are holes in the new law that must be addressed.
Fayemi said the pitfalls identified by the governors are in Sections 9(4) and (5); 33; 53(2), (3); (4); 54 (1) and (2); 55 (1); and 64(c).
The governors said the law will deny states their fair share from the Federation Account because it favours the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which will transform to a limited liability company.
They are unhappy about the provisions for the incorporation of NNPC Limited under the Companies and Allied Matters Act.
The governors, however, hailed the law as good for the oil and gas sector.
Gunmen Strike Again In Plateau State, Kill 5, Abduct Four Others in Fresh Attack
A fresh attack by gunmen in Plateau State has resulted in the death of five persons while four others have been declared missing.
The attack reportedly happened in Bassa Local Government Area of the state.
Confirming the incident on Wednesday, the National President of the Irigwe Development Association, Ezekiel Bini, narrated that the victims were killed on Tuesday night when gunmen attacked Chando-Zrrechi (Tafi-Gana) village.
He said the gunmen also abducted four other persons and their whereabouts remain unknown.
Narrating to Punch, Bini said, “Yes, the killing of the five persons is true and we are on our way to meet the governor over the continued killings in our communities in Bassa.
“Our people were attacked last night (Tuesday) at Chando-Zrrechi and five people were killed.
“They were in their homes when the gunmen came and killed them despite the curfew imposed by the state government.
“Their corpses have just been deposited at the mortuary. Aside the five people that were killed last night, four other villagers were also captured on Sunday and since then, we have not seen them.”
The development is happening few days after gunmen attacked some innocent travellers in Plateau State, killing at least 22 of them in cold blood.
Meanwhile, the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong has given a marching order to security operatives to arrest those trying to circumvent investigations into the recent killing of innocent travellers in the state.
According to the governor, some people are in a hurry to bail suspects arrested in connection with the recent killings in the state before investigations are concluded – an act he observed is capable of derailing ongoing investigations into the matter.
He, therefore, told security operatives to prevent such from happening by arresting those who want to derail the process, adding that some of them might be sponsors or accomplices to such crimes.
Lalong gave the order on Tuesday at an emergency meeting on peace and security with stakeholders in Jos in the wake of the recent killing of not less than 22 innocent travellers in the Rukuba area of the state.
Several others were also injured in the attack, Naija News recalls.
While speaking on the incident, Governor Lalong expressed concerns about the development and warned that anyone found culpable will be dealt with according to the law.
See The Run Down Of The Huge Debt Buhari Govt Is Owing Cbn
Buhari govt has borrowed N14.86tn from CBN, debt to bank rises to N15.51tn
Nigeria’s federal government’s borrowings from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through Ways and Means Advances has risen to N15.51tn, a whooping 2,286 percent increase in six years.
This is according to data collated from the CBN
The N15.51tn owed by the Federal Government to the central bank is not part of the country’s total public debt stock, which stood at N33.11tn as of March 2021, according to the Debt Management Office, PUNCH reported.
According to the report, the public debt stock comprises the debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.
Ways and Means Advances is a loan facility used by the central bank to finance the government in periods of temporary budget shortfalls subject to limits imposed by law.
According to Section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007, the bank may grant temporary advances to the Federal Government in respect of temporary deficiency of budget revenue at such rate of interest as the bank may determine.
The Act says, “The total amount of such advances outstanding shall not at any time exceed five per cent of the previous year’s actual revenue of the Federal Government.
“All advances shall be repaid as soon as possible and shall, in any event, be repayable by the end of the Federal Government financial year in which they are granted and if such advances remain unpaid at the end of the year, the power of the bank to grant such further advances in any subsequent year shall not be exercisable, unless the outstanding advances have been repaid.”
In the first six months of this year, the Federal Government borrowed N2.4tn from the CBN, more than half of what it got in the whole of last year.
The N2.4tn is also much higher than five per cent of the Federal Government’s retained revenue of N3.9tn in the previous year.
As of June 2015, a month after the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) came into power, the total government borrowing from the apex bank stood at N648.26bn.
It jumped from N856.33bn in December 2015 to N2.23tn in December 2016, the CBN data show.
The total borrowing from the bank grew by N1.08tn in 2017 to N3.31tn. It rose further by N2.1tn in 2018 to N5.41tn.
The Federal Government’s borrowing from the CBN surged by 61.18 per cent (N3.31tn) to N8.72tn at the end of 2019.
Last year, the government turned to the apex bank for a record N4.9tn to plug its fiscal financing gap, bringing its total borrowing to N13.11tn as of December 2020.
A global credit ratings agency, Fitch Ratings, had in January raised concerns over the Federal Government’s repeated recourse to its ways and means facility with the central bank.
According to the agency, the use of central bank financing in Nigeria, which predates the COVID-19 pandemic shock, could raise risks to macro-stability in the context of weak institutional safeguards that preserve the credibility of policymaking and the ability of the central bank to control inflation.
“The CBN’s guidelines limit the amount available to the government under its WMF to five per cent of the previous year’s fiscal revenues. However, the FGN’s new borrowing from the CBN has repeatedly exceeded that limit in recent years, and reached around 80 per cent of the FGN’s 2019 revenues in 2020,” it said.
In February, the International Monetary Fund said Nigeria’s monetary policy operational framework should be reformed in the medium term, adding that the central bank financing of budget deficit should be phased out in order to reduce inflation.
“The increasing reliance on CBN overdrafts has come with negative consequences. The financing is costly for the Federal Government at interest rates of MPR plus 300 basis points, and for the CBN, with sterilisation done through issuance of OMO bills,” it said.
The IMF added that a complete removal of central bank financing of fiscal deficits would require higher domestic revenue mobilisation.
The Washington-based fund had on April 28, 2020 approved Nigeria’s request for emergency financial assistance of $3.4bn to support the country’s efforts in addressing the severe economic impact of the COVID-19 shock and the sharp fall in oil prices.
In a letter of intent to the IMF, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, and the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said the recourse to central bank financing would be eliminated by 2025.
They added that the existing stock of overdrafts held at the CBN would also be securitised, according to PUNCH.
Taliban Prisoner Rehabilitated By Obama Now Leader In Afghanistan – Omokri Warns Buhari
A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari, that a Taliban prisoner, Khairullah Khairkhwa, rehabilitated by former US president Barack Obama is now one of the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
Omokri gave this warning following the plan by the Buhari administration to reintegrate some repentant Boko Haram terrorists into society.
Recall that the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, had disclosed that over 1,000 members of Boko Haram and their families have surrendered to the troops.
The former spokesman to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan in his reaction wrote, “Khairullah Khairkhwa, a Taliban prisoner rehabilitated and released from Guantanamo Bay by Obama is now one of the leaders of the Taliban in Afghanistan. I hope those of you who insult me for cautioning Buhari against releasing repentant Boko Haramists are watching.”
He further stated “One tweet from Trump would have scared the Taliban more than any military armada Biden could have put together.
“It’s all about perception. Even dogs bite if they sense weakness. Biden lacks the alpha personality and clout to instil a healthy fear in America’s enemies.”
The Taliban took over the country after the United States of America pulled out its military after spending about two decades in the war-ravaged country.
Afcon 2021: Draw pairs Nigeria with Egypt, Sudan and Guinea Bissau
Gernot Rohr’s men have learned their opponents for the biennial African football showpiece as they chase a fourth crown
Nigeria will face Egypt in Group D of the preliminary round of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
Gernot Rohr’s men, who enjoyed a smooth qualification campaign where they were unbeaten and finished top of their group, have also been tasked with matches against Sudan and Guinea Bissau.
The draw ceremony which served up plenty of interesting match-ups took place Tuesday evening at Yaounde Conference Centre, Cameroon.
Comoros, who are making their first appearance at the tournament, will have their hands full when they take on Senegal, Ghana and Gabon in Group C.
Algeria must negotiate their way past Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire in Group E if they hope to make it to the second round of the championship.
Elsewhere, Tunisia have been zoned alongside Mali, Mauritania, and Gambia in Group F.
The Super Eagles begin their quest for glory against the Pharaohs at the Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua on January 11.
The 33rd edition of the biennial African football showpiece was due to begin on January 9, 2021, however, it was pushed back to January 2022 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that crippled football-related activities.
Before the advent of Covid-19, the competition was moved from June-July 2021 dates to January 2022 due to the unfavourable climate in the West African country during the summer months.
Nigeria last won the championship in 2013 when they defeated Burkina Faso 1-0 in South Africa courtesy of Sunday Mba’s first-half strike.
The three-time African champions finished third at Egypt 2019 after defeating Tunisia in the third-place play-off at Al Salam Stadium, Cairo.
Check out the groups in full below.
Group A Group B
Cameroon Senegal
Burkina Faso Zimbabwe
Ethiopia Guinea
Cape Verde Malawi
Group C Group D
Senegal Nigeria
Ghana Egypt
Comoros Sudan
Gabon Guinea-Bissau
Group E Group F
Algeria Tunisia
Sierra Leone Mali
Equatorial Guinea Mauritania
Cote d’Ivoire Gambia
Take Up Arms To Protect Yourself From Bandit, Terrorists Attacks – Gov Bello Masari urges Residents
The governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari has urged residents of towns hit by bandit terrorists to seek weapons to protect themselves from attacks.
Masari made the remarks on Tuesday while paying a condolence visit to the families of 10 people killed by customs officials in the Jibia Local Government Area last week.
Katsina is one of the worst-hit states by the bandits and kidnappers in northwestern Nigeria.
On December 11, gunmen abducted 344 students from a secondary school in Kankara, Katsina State, and held them, hostage, for six days.
“We must intensify prayers with clean minds to seek God’s forgiveness and intervention.
“We must all rise up to counter the insecurity challenge, we must not seat and watch some people buying guns attacking our Houses, we too should buy the guns and protect ourselves,” he said.
The governor also instructed the people of the area not to accept any favours from the customs.
“What Customs operatives are doing is wrong, and therefore, unacceptable,” Governor Masari said.
“Do not succumb to any covert enticement from the customs service, no matter what they offer or promise to do for you.
“Whatever they want to do for you, let it be in the open, not in secret.
“If you accept any secret offer, then you will be truncating the government’s efforts to seek justice for you, but if you resist any untoward move, the organisation will then have to rethink its attitude towards its host community”. He concluded.
