#JusticeForNabra: Muslim Teen Brutally Murdered During Ramadan
“It is America first,” President Donald Trump declared at his inauguration. Since then, so many other countries have made claims to the second position after America. But President Donald Trump knows not make a decision on which country should be second until he hears from Nigeria, the giant of Africa.
Thousands of inhabitants of the Otodo-Gbame community have been displaced in a renewed effort by the military and thugs identified with the Elegushi family, with backing from the Lagos State government, to demolish shanties, churches and schools in the coastal community.
The inhabitants said the state government has invaded their community three times now.
No fewer than seven residents of the community have been reported dead or missing since the last attack, in which thugs used guns to forcibly remove inhabitants from their homes.
Speaking to SaharaReporters on Thursday, Otodo-Gbame community leaders disclosed that thugs and members of the Elegushi family stormed the community with the protection of the police to attack the inhabitants and force them out of the community.
They alleged that the Elegushi family, in concert with the Lagos State government, intend to sell their community land to businessmen, with no regard for the inhabitants who will be displaced by the sale.
On the orders of Governor Akinwumi Ambode, armed officials of the Lagos State Task Force stormed Otodo Gbame, Lagos State on Sunday to forcefully evict residents from their homes. Two residents were killed in the raid, while several shanties and structures were destroyed.
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Six Die As Suicide Bombers Trigger Multiple Explosions In Maiduguri
Four suicide bombers and two bystanders died in Maiduguri early on Wednesday morning, in bomb explosions they triggered. The blasts, members of the Civilian Joint Task Force told SaharaReporters occurred at Usmannati and Alkunmi on the outskirts of Maiduguri at about 1:30 am.
Civilian Joint Task Force sources also disclosed to SaharaReporters that another suicide bomb attempt was foiled in Alkali village in the Muna general area. Nigerian government emergency workers said 16 persons were injured in the blasts…read more.
PHOTONEWS: Nigerian President Buhari presiding over the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja today
PHOTONEWS: President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari in a meeting with his longtime friend Justin Welby the Archbishop of Canterbury at Abuja House in London
Theft Of Paris Club Refund: Saraki Claimed He Borrowed N5b From Dangote To Fund Buhari’s Election
Saharareporters has obtained further details about the monumental scandal around billions of naira in Paris Club loan refunds that were brazenly stolen by state governors, Senate President Bukola Saraki, and Nigerian businessman Hassan Dambaba, who also holds the traditional title of Magaji Ngari Sokoto. Mr. Dambaba apparently embezzled as much as N2.5 billion from the Paris/London Club refunds.
Yesterday, Mr. Dambaba surrendered himself for interrogation by agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He was accompanied by a director of the Department of State Services (DSS). A source said Mr. Dambaba was acting as a front for Governor Abdulraziz Yariof Zamfara State who is also the chairman of the Governors’ Forum.
Speaking anonymously with Saharareporters, an EFCC investigator disclosed that the slush fund, which was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari before he traveled to London on a prolonged medical vacation, came from a payment made by one of the state-owned oil companies at NNPC.
The funds were then used to repay states that claimed the Federal Government had over-deducted Paris Club repayments from their monthly allocations over the years.
However, instead of using the money for paying workers salaries, some top shots of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) decided to convert it into slush fund that would be used ostensibly to refund some of the party’s original funders.
Apart from state governors who individually pocketed as much as N400m in some cases, Senate President Bukola Saraki grabbed for himself at least N3.5 billion. One investigator told our correspondent that the senator converted his haul into dollars and may have laundered the funds through Dubai and Germany.
A senior EFCC agent disclosed that anti-corruption officials were on the verge of arresting Mr. Saraki and his accomplice, a former MD of his late father’s bank, Robert Mbonu. The source said EFCC operatives paused when they were told to wait until President Buhari returns from his vacation on February 6. The President has yet to return.
SaharaReporters learned that Mr. Saraki also colluded with the Governors’ Forum to send N5 billion out of the funds to multi-billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote. Our source said where the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had assisted the Governors’ Forum to have access to the funds.
An EFCC agent said Mr. Dangote refunded the money as soon as he spotted the deposit, claiming that he never requested from anyone to deposit funds in his account.
However, a source who initially alerted us to the scandal said that Mr. Dangote only rejected the money because of the formal nature of the transaction. He said Mr. Dangote was alarmed when he was told that the deposit was supposed to be a refund for his funding of the election of President Buhari.
Mr. Dangote reportedly declared that, since he did not transfer funds to the APC via a bank transfer, it would be questionable if he got money through a bank transfer that was declared a refund.
When our reporter contacted Mr. Dangote, he denied that the transaction took place
DSS Arrests Peace Corps Commandant Dickson Akoh, 45 Corps Members
The Department of State Security (DSS), abetted by the Police and military, on Tuesday night, arrested the National Commandant of Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN), Mr. Dickson Akoh. The DSS also assaulted some officers of the corps.
The arrest took place shortly after the ceremony to open the new PCN National Headquarters, an event attended by senators, representatives of the Minister of Sport and Youth Development and other dignitaries. SahaReporters gathered that DSS officials, accompanied by police and military officers, invaded the new headquarters building and ordered the commandant to follow them.
An officer, who witnessed the incident, told SaharaReporters that the DSS, Police, and military arrived while a live band was entertaining the guests.
“We suddenly saw a detachment of armed security operatives asking everybody to lie face down. They asked the commandant to follow them, and he obeyed, but some of the officers said that they want to follow the commandant and the security operatives started beating up everybody, including state commandants,” the officer told SaharaReporters on the condition of anonymity.
One of the assaulted PCN officers was a female. She was repeatedly hit with a gun butt until she lost consciousness. She was later rushed to the National Hospital.
PCN Public Relations Officer, Milicent Umoru, said over 40 officers of the corps were taken away by the security operatives. She also disclosed that Mr. Akoh is still in detention in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command.
But Mr. Anwuri Manzal, FCT Police Command Public Relations Officer, told SaharaReporters on the telephone that inquiries about Mr. Akoh should be made at the Force Headquarters. Phone calls to Mr. Jimoh Moshood, Force Public Relations Officer, were answered by an officer who said the Police spokesman was in a meeting.
A bill for an act establishing is waiting for presidential assent, following passage by the Senate and House of Representatives. During the public hearing on the bill by the National Assembly, the Nigerian Police Force was vehemently opposed to the establishment of PCN, arguing that it will amount to an unnecessary duplication of Police duties.The PCN is a youth organization under the Ministry of Sport and Youth Development.
It was conceived as a scheme to provide jobs for unemployed graduates, who are expected maintain discipline in schools across the country.
“Your visa says you are a software engineer.” an officer asked Mr Omin. “Look, I am going to let you go, but you don’t look convincing to me.”
A software engineer from Lagos, Nigeria, is claiming that he was made to sit a written test by US airport immigration officers because they weren’t convinced he was telling the truth about his skills.
According to social networking site LinkedIn, Celestine Omin, 28, landed in New York’s JFK airport last Sunday after a 24-hour flight from Nigeria.
Mr Omin is employed by Andela, a tech start-up with offices in New York, Lagos, Nairobi and San Francisco.
The firm says it recruits “the most talented developers on the African continent” and connects them with tech employers in the US for potential job vacancies. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg visited Andela’s office in Lagos last year.
Mr Omin had reportedly been granted a short-term visa to work with First Access, a financial technology company in New York’s Manhattan district.
After being asked a series of questions by a US Customs and Border Protection officer, he was taken into a room for further checks. “Your visa says you are a software engineer. Is that correct?” an officer is reported to have asked Mr Omin.
He says he was then given a piece of paper and a pen and told to answer these two questions to prove he is actually a software engineer:
“Write a function to check if a Binary Search Tree is balanced.”
“What is an abstract class, and why do you need it?”
After he handed back his answers, he was told by the officer that they were wrong. He said he presumed he was required to provide “the Wikipedia definition” for the questions. However, he was even more surprised a little later when the officer told him he was “free to go”.
“Look, I am going to let you go, but you don’t look convincing to me,” said the officer, according to Mr Omin.
“I didn’t say anything back. I just walked out.”
He later found out that border protection officers had phoned Andela to verify his story. (BBC)