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Igbo businessmen raise N.14bn for Nnamdi Kanu’s Biafra project

The proscribed Igbo separatist group, Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has reportedly engaged a lobbying firm in the United States, BW Global Group (BWGG LCC), to facilitate the recognition of Biafran independence.

The leader of the group, Nnamdi Kanu, according to the report, allegedly paid the outfit the sum of $350,000 for their services.

While confirming the engagement of the firm, Kanu said the move was to see to the smooth sailing of the agitation for Biafra’s independence in the eyes of the wider world.

The Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Emma Powerful, in a statement made available to Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday, said the funds were provided by Igbo businessmen in Nigeria and in the diaspora, who have bought into the Biafra project.

According to him, the group contracted the firm to help “secure the support of the US government and those of Britain, France, China, Russia, Israel, Germany, Australia and the European Union” in the agitation.

“It’s true that our Supreme and indefatigable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has hired another lobbying group in the USA to facilitate the coming and recognition of Biafra independence.

“We engaged them with the wholesome amount of $350,000 to lobby for Biafra freedom in America and the whole world.”

Powerful added that the deal which is for an initial 12 months period with a possibility of a renewal, was signed in February with Kanu signing on behalf of IPOB.

Checks by Ripples Nigeria revealed that the BW Global Group is
co-owned by Jeffrey Birrel and Alan White, and is registered in Washington D.C.

The firm has a high concentration of top government officials, lawmakers, policymakers, and opinion leaders who are well versed in the art of international diplomacy.

The agreement between IPOB and the BW Global Group took effect from March 1, 2021, months after an earlier one struck by Kanu with another US-based lobbying entity, Mercury Public Affairs LLC, expired.

Under the old contract, IPOB reportedly paid $85,000 per month beginning September 23, 2019, in addition to a $5,000 one-time compliance fee.

Kanu, while signing the deal with Mercury, had said the funds were sourced from Igbo businessmen both at home and the diaspora who believed in the Biafran struggle.

“Our people both home and abroad contributed money for the project. Nobody can change our resolve towards the fight for Biafra freedom and independence.

“IPOB has been spending huge amounts of money for this project to ensure that Biafra is restored without another war but those traitors and saboteurs in Biafraland and elsewhere are bent on supporting terrorists to attack us from within and outside so that IPOB can engage them prematurely.

“The Federal Government wants us to declare an unprepared war for Biafra freedom, but we maintain our peace till we get what we want.”

We have not received £4.2m Ibori loot- Delta Government denies AGF’s Claim

The Delta state government has denied receiving the £4.2m James Ibori loot. That was contrary to the submission of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris that the Federal Government had returned the recently repatriated sum, allegedly looted by former Governor James Ibori from the United Kingdom to the state coffers.

He said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of All Recovered Loots Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002 to 2020 by Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective Efficient Management and Utilisation.

When the committee asked him this question, Idris said with emphatic knocks on the table: “It was paid to Delta State. So such recoveries go specifically to those states. Honourable Chairman, any recovery arising from the looted funds from a particular state goes to the state. The state governors will not even allow this to fly.”

He added, “Some recoveries are for some state governments, specific state governments. I know there was a time recovery was made on behalf of Plateau State, there was one for Bayelsa, there is one for Delta.

“You know they will take the Federal Government to court for holding their money. So we don’t joke or play with that, we pay them their money.”

However, TNG, an online newspaper quoted an exclusive source within Delta government: “We have been bombarded with calls since the Accountant General made that unsubstantiated claims of the transfer of the funds to the Delta State Government. You are aware of the stand of the Attorney General of the Federation some few days back that the state won’t have a share of the money with FG despite efforts by the governor. Where the new development is coming from is still unknown to us. As I speak with you, we are yet to receive the monthly allocation. There is nothing to hide. Once the funds are transferred to us, Deltans and indeed the entire nation would be adequately informed and carried along on the expenditures.”

Recently, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta said on Channels: “I have spoken with the attorney-general of the federation. My attorney-general went to have a meeting with him. I think that we are working and we are likely to come on the same page. We have written a formal letter of protest to Mr President.

“We have made two suggestions; return the money directly to us or apply it directly to projects that we feel are of importance and are in Delta State so that Deltans can directly benefit from the repatriated funds and I don’t think anybody can fault that line (of thinking)”

Toyin Abraham Finally Breaks Silence, Speaks On Her Lingering Fight with Lizzy Anjorin

Famous Nigerian actress, Toyin Abraham has finally broken silence on her lingering squabble with colleague, Lizzy Anjorin.

It all started in September 2019, when an Instagram blog reported that Liz was ‘held and searched for drug peddling’ during hajj in Saudi Arabia.

The blog reported that she was ‘teary all through her encounter with the security agents at the airport’.

Speaking in response to the story, Liz Anjorin said her investigations revealed that Toyin Abraham ‘leaked’ the story to blogs and she came for her guns blazing.

Toyin’s response at the tie came with threats to sue Liz.

Well, recently, the story came up again after Liz had an interview with social media influencer, Esabod. Apparently, during the interview, Esabod reigned curses on Toyin, her husband, Kolawole Ajeyemi, and their son, Ire.

Toyin, on seeing the recent interview, took to an IG live session with Iyabo Ojo on Tuesday, May 25 where she stressed that she had nothing to do with the drug peddling story about Liz whom she said she isn’t friends with as she has met just twice in her life.

She swore by the Bible that she had nothing to do with the story.

Nimasa Boss Calls for thorough Probe into N1.5tn allegation levelled against him

The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Mr Bashir Jamoh, has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate an allegation of N1.5tn fraud levelled against him by one Jackson Ude.

Ude had on Saturday alleged that N1.5tn was traced to Jamoh. The allegation made on Twitter had gone virile.

He had written, “Fraud in Buhari govt as N1.5tn, $9bn traced to NIMASA boss, Bashir Jamoh’s personal accounts.”

On Sunday, he wrote, “Bashir Jamoh, DG of NIMASA has told his friends he doesn’t know anything about N1.5tn in any account. And that all the story is a lie and fake news. When I wake up, I will drop his receipt. He just ate the bait.”

However, on Tuesday, though a letter with a reference number, NIMASA2020/DG/EFCC/VOL1/09, addressed to the Economic Financial Crimes Commission urged the crimes agency to investigate the allegations.

He said, “I write to bring to your attention the attached online publications and tweets that have gone viral since Friday 21 of May 2021.

“The publications emanated from a series of tweets of one Jackson Ude alleging the sums of N1.5tn and another US$9,557,312.50 were traced to my personal account.

“The allegation of money laundering which impugns my integrity, character and family name has been circulating on social media also suggested that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria be invited by security agencies to give reasons why such huge sums of money were transferred to my personal account instead of the Treasury Single Account.

“In view of this weighty allegation and the insidious and perniciously damaging effect on the government and the country, I hereby request that a thorough and painstaking investigation be carried by your commission with a view to unravelling the truth or accuracy of the allegation.”

He added that the investigation would put the record straight in the public domain.

Mad Woman Burnt to Ashes after being Caught With 3 AK-47 Rifles in Badagry

An irate mob yesterday set on fire a mad woman allegedly caught with three AK-47 rifles stashed in a sack bag at Abule-Ado, Trade fair area of Badagry, Lagos State.

An eyewitness that made a video of the incident said the mad woman was accused of keeping the rifles for suspected armed robbers.

Commenting on the incident, the police spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the command had commenced an investigation into the killing and setting ablaze of a mentally challenged woman, who was alleged to have been in possession of a stolen baby and three AK 47 rifles at Abule Ado, under bridge, Festac Area of Lagos State on Monday, May 24, 2021.

“Based on preliminary investigation, it was discovered that the mentally challenged woman had been living in the area for several years before she was lynched and set ablaze.

“The command, however, states categorically that the woman was just murdered for reasons best known to the perpetrators of the heinous crime as investigation revealed that no baby and AK-47 rifles were found in her possession nor were they recovered by the perpetrators or the police. It’s just a clear case of murder”. Adejobi said

No Going Back On Drug integrity Test For Politicians, Students – NDLEA Boss

Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) Brig. General Buba Marwa (retd) has said that politicians seeking public office and students seeking admission into higher institutions must undergo drug integrity test.

Marwa stated this in Abuja while delivering a paper on “Drug Abuse and National Security Challenge: Way Forward”, as the guest speaker at the fifth anniversary lecture of presidential diary magazine.

He said as elections come up in the states and across the country, there is the need for the people to entrust the management of their treasury and their wellbeing in the hands of politicians that have clear minds because no public office holder under the influence of drugs can think straight.

Marwa said same thing applies to students seeking admission into higher institutions.

He said because of the evidence-based strong nexus between drug abuse and security challenges across the country, concerted efforts must be made towards tackling the drug scourge headlong.

While urging Nigerians not to be despondent about the security challenges facing the country, spokesperson of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, urged that everyone must join the agency’s advocacy train.

I suffered 16-year ordeal during Daniel, Amosun’s administrations: Osoba

“The first 16 years of my leaving this office have been very traumatic. I never came back as I became a snake that doesn’t go back to where it has shed its skin.”

Former Governor Olusegun Osoba of Ogun has narrated his 16-year ordeal in the hands of ex-governors Gbenga Daniel and Ibikunle Amosun, his successors.

“The first 16 years of my leaving this office have been very traumatic. I never came back as I became a snake that doesn’t go back to where it has shed its skin,” said Mr Osoba. “This premises became a no-go -area for me, and every symbol of the projects that I did was removed.”

Mr Osoba spoke in Abeokuta on Tuesday at the inauguration of a press centre named after him by Governor Dapo Abiodun.

Osoba served as governor of Ogun between 1999 and 2003.

He added, “I was practically declared persona non grata in Ogun. My name was sent to EFCC so many times, and the agency investigated me severally but found nothing. I couldn’t come to Abeokuta, not to talk of visiting the office of the governor. The other eight years were also problematic.”

Mr Osoba described Mr Abiodun as “a governor of redemption and restoration,” pointing out that he reminded him of agonising old memories and turned them into joyful memories.

“To imagine that my returning to this premises after those years will be this glorious is something of great emotion for me. Mr Governor, you will not know how many hours you have added to my life with this action today.

“It may be hours, it may be weeks, days, and it may be years, but you have added something very great to my life today,” Mr Osoba explained.

In his remarks, the governor described Mr Osoba as “an encyclopaedia and a veteran journalist,” adding that his administration could not think of any other personality who deserved the honour more than him.

“Chief Osoba is a statement, a respectable icon in the pen-pushing profession, and he also symbolises the birthplace of the first newspaper in Nigeria, established in 1859,” said Mr Abiodun.

(NAN)

Garba Shehu, a pitiable messenger who doesn’t know his limits —Gov Akeredolu

The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, on Tuesday, faulted the position of the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, on the ban of open grazing by governors from the Southern part of the country.

Shehu had in a statement on Monday described the resolutions of the 17 southern governors at their May 11 meeting in Asaba, Delta, as illegal.

But in a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties and Strategy, Dr. Doyin Odebowale, the governor insisted that the presidential aide was not speaking for President Muhammadu Buhari on the ban on open grazing.

He said: “Anyone who has been following the utterances of this man, as well as his fellow travellers on the self-deluding, mendacious but potentially dangerous itinerary to anarchy, cannot but conclude that he works assiduously for extraneous interests whose game plan stands at variance with the expectations of genuine lovers of peaceful coexistence among all the people whose ethnic extractions are indigenous to Nigeria.

“Mr. Garba Shehu must disclose, this day, the real motive(s) of those he serves, definitely not the President. He cannot continue to hide under some opaque, omnibus, and dubious directives to create confusion in the polity.

“The easy recourse to mendacious uppity in pushing a barely disguised pernicious agendum is well understood.

“The declaration that the recommendations of the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, a mere political appointee like Garba Shehu, are now the ‘lasting solutions’ which eluded all the elected representatives of the people of the Southern part of the country, exposes this man as a pitiable messenger who does not seem to understand the limits of his relevance and charge.

“Mr. Garba Shehu contends that ‘their announcement is of questionable legality,’ referring to the 17 Governors of the Southern States, but the decision of certain elements to take the ancestral lands of other people to settle their kinsmen, including the ‘gun-wielding killer herdsmen’ and their families, and provide ‘veterinary clinics, water points for animals, and facilities for herders and their families including schooling through these rehabilitated reserves for which the Federal Government is making far-reaching and practical changes allowing for different communities to co-exist side-by-side’ does not appear to him as a comprehensive plan for land grabbing, a precursor to internal colonialism.

“He wants to ‘revive forest reserves’ but seems particularly uninterested in the current position of the same law, that he and his cohorts often misinterpret to serve parochialism and greed.

“Governors no longer have powers over the lands in their territories. They must take instructions from appointees of the Federal Government on such matters.

“It is superfluous, and that is being charitable, for anyone to remind us of the constitutional right of bona fide citizens to enjoy rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 States (and FCT) -regardless of their state of birth and residence.”

‘Fake news has ruined homes, Pushed many into depression’ — Lai Mohammed cautions media establishments

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says fake news has adverse effects on society, including ruining homes and leaving many depressed.

Speaking on Tuesday when he received a delegation from The Guardian Newspaper in Abuja, Mohammed said fact-checking, for which some media houses now have dedicated desks, including TheCable, will address the menace of fake news.

The minister said fact-checking will help separate facts from fiction, adding that all media establishment should take the issue of fake news seriously.

“To be sure, the issue of fake news and misinformation is not just about the government alone, as some have insinuated. It is about all of us,” he said.

“Fake news has ruined homes, pushed many into depression and done untold hardship to others. It is a clear and present danger to all.

“I believe it will not be out of place for reputable media organisations like the Guardian to set up a special desk for fact-checking as a panacea for this problem.

“That way, you can help citizens to separate fact from fiction. I am aware that some media organizations are already doing this, but it must be taken seriously by every media establishment.

“On our part, we are undeterred as we have continued our engagement with stakeholders to find a way out. Hopefully, we will be taking a more concrete step on this in the months ahead.”

The minister said no democracy could survive without independent media.

“As a matter of fact, no true democracy survives without a professional, responsible and independent media. It is in this context
that the government continues to view the media as a strong partner,” he said.

“It is said that for the media to be able to play its role, which is to inform, criticize and stimulate debate, it must take responsibility for whatever it puts out. In other words, it must get its facts right.

Ex Nigerian footballer, Ibezito Ogbonna, hospitalized after his home in Israel was hit by a rocket from Gaza

Israel based Nigeria footballer, Ibezito Ogbonna, survived a rocket strike fired from Gaza during the 11 days clash between Israel and Gaza last week.

BBC Sport reports that the former under 23 striker was home with his family in the city of Ashdod on May 17, when his apartment was directly hit by one of the rockets fired by Hamas militants in the heat of the Israel-Gaza face-off. Ibezito who sustained injuries from the explosion, expressed delight that his wife and kids were unhurt after the Hamas strike.

“I am extremely lucky to be alive after this rocket was fired and it’s third time lucky for me after being involved in a car crash and a horrible robbery incident in Nigeria,” he told BBC’s Oluwashina Okeleji. It is difficult to explain the impact of what I saw. Coming out of this was a miracle. We are talking about the same attack that has left several people badly wounded,” he added.

“On this day I was having breakfast and I heard the wailing siren. Normally, we’d run to the shelter because every house has its own shelter. I felt it’s the normal warning, but within seconds it turned out to be an unlucky day for me. I heard the loud bang of the rocket and felt the immediate impact, I was thrown into the air and it took me from my dining room to my living room. I was in the hospital for a few hours. I was treated and had different tests just to check that everything was okay with me. They weren’t sure I was fine considering what had happened,” he said.