Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Sunday 16th August 2020

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Sunday 16th August 2020

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 16/08/20

Dubai Sends Urgent Food Supplies To Nigeria

The Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has ordered officials in his country to send urgent medical aid and food supplies to Nigeria.
This was revealed in a Twitter post by the UAE Embassy in Nigeria.

The humanitarian aid to Nigeria according to Maktoum is a way of showing support for Nigeria’s efforts in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The statement read, “His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum orders urgent medical aid and food supplies to be sent to the friendly Nigerian people to support the efforts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and limiting its spread. In a clear confirmation of the UAE’s solidarity with all brotherly and friendly countries in crises.”
The relief shipment, which includes seven tonnes of medical supplies and five tonnes of food supplies, were dispatched from Dubai.

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Nigerian Airport Officials Allegedly Collecting Money In Place Of COVID-19 Test Results

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Some Nigerian airport officials have been discovered to be collecting money in place of carrying out COVID-19 tests to those entering Nigeria from other countries.
Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, had in July said that inbound passengers from foreign trips will be tested for COVID-19 on arrival at Nigeria airports.
Mustapha said this was aimed at protecting all stakeholders and preventing further spread of the Coronavirus disease, especially through the airports.

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SaharaReporters gathered that airport officials rather than do the right thing, now collect money in place of COVID-19 tests from passengers.
“In this Coronavirus pandemic, they are still putting money above the lives of the common man. Someone very close to me came to Nigeria from Dubai on Wednesday night and they were routed to Abuja.
“Before leaving Dubai, he had already been tested and he was negative. On getting to Nigeria, their passports were seized and they were told they would be on isolation for two weeks.
“Can you believe that they gave them the option of paying to collect their passport and go without any form of tests or follow-up. He paid N50,000 and he was allowed to go, some paid as high as N100,000 to N150,000 depending on if you know someone there. As you are reading this, he has left Abuja and arrived Lagos.”

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Air Force Destroys Bandits Camp In Kaduna

The Nigerian military said it has neutralised several armed bandits at their camp in the Kuduru Forest area of Kaduna State.
According to a statement by a military spokesman, John Enenche, the strikes were carried out on August 13.
The airstrikes were carried out by the Air Component of Operation Thunder Strike, a joint military operation with the mission to help rid the country’s North-West of bandits presently terrorising the region.

The statement said the destroyed camp was occupied by members of an Ansaru terrorist sect led by one Mallam Abba.
The statement reads, “The Air Component of Operation Thunder Strike has neutralised several armed bandits at their camp in the Kuduru Forest area of Kaduna State.
“This was achieved through air strikes carried out on 13 August, 2020 on the heels of intelligence reports indicating the convergence of members of an Ansaru terrorist sect-linked bandits group led by one Mallam Abba at the location. Aerial surveillance missions conducted over the area also observed several bandits, some wielding weapons, in the forest.
“Nigerian Air Force jets and helicopter gunships were therefore tasked to attack the location. Several of the bandits were killed as the attack aircraft strafed the area, while others attempting to escape were mopped-up in follow-on attacks.”Nigeria’s North-West has recently witnessed a surge in bandits attacks and killings, leading to calls by Nigerians for the sack of service chiefs.
Recall that the military on Friday deployed special forces to curb the recent attacks and killings in the Southern part of Kaduna State.

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Activist Accuses Kogi Politicians Of Using DSS To Harass, Intimidate Residents

A political activist, Comrade Usman Okai Austin, has accused the ruling class in Kogi State of using security operatives to subvert the will and opinion of people living in the state.
Okai disclosed this while reacting to the arrest and continued detention of one Habib Omachile over a Facebook post.
He said the Department of State Services is an important tool in the unity of Nigeria and as such the agency must not be allowed to be used by anybody, whether a sitting president, governor or senator to harass and intimidate citizens, who dare speak truth to power.

He said, “Last month, I learned how Barrister Natasha Akpoti was invited for raising alarm on the spate of kidnapping, killing and other crimes bedeviling citizens of Kogi State.
“About two months ago, Adeboh Smart Opaluwa was trailed by the DSS for raising eyebrows over the nonchalant attitude of Kogi State Government towards curtailing the geometric spread of the deadly virus.
“The testimony of Barrister Realwan Okpanachi, who contacted the virus alongside his wife and children from Olamaboro vindicated the initial insinuation of Adeboh Smart, the same way Onoja-Integrity Johnson was trailed for raising an alarm over the issue at stake.
“To worsen the state government’s rampage on citizens who deemed necessary to draw the government attention to striking issues confronting the state, Habib Omachile was arrested from his home town, he was reportedly whisked from Anyigba at 2 O’clock midnight and has since been taken to Lokoja by the DSS on the allegation that he was said to have orchestrated injurious falsehood via his Facebook post, stating that people were dying at an alarming rate due to fever.
“The victim was inverably saying there is COVID-19 in the state against the true position of the state government on the matter.
“We can’t continue to live in intimidation, it’s time DSS should stand by the citizens and stop this harassment. Okai roared, called on DSS to see contrary view in the state as friends who want good of the state not being treated as an enemy of the state.”

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BREAKING: DSS Invites Former Speaker, Ghali Umar Na’abba, For Criticising Buhari’s Government

Ghali Umar Na’abba

A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’abba, has been invited by the Department of State Services over the interview he granted Channels Television on Thursday regarding the agenda of the National Consultative Front to bring about a new Nigeria that works for all.
Spokesperson for the group, Dr Tanko Yunusa, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.

Ghali Umar Na’abba

He said the former Speaker had decided to honour the DSS invitation on Monday by 12:00pm.
Recall that Na’abba had accused President Muhammadu Buhari of turning Nigeria into a failed state, describing him as an irresponsive and incompetent leader in the history of the country.
The statement reads, “Please be notified that the DSS on Friday sent an invitation to NCFront Co-Chair and former Speaker of Nigeria, Rt Hon Ghali Umar Na’abba, after his very profound interview on Channels Television on Thursday in regard to the NCFront agenda to bring about a new Nigeria that works for all.
“However, our leader, Ghali Umar Na’abba, has decided to honour the DSS invitation and therefore shall be visiting the DSS Headquarters in Abuja on Monday at 12noon.
“All NCFront organs, structures and allies nationwide are by this notice put on the alert as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

BREAKING: Army Transfers Lance Corporal Martins To Sokoto For Secret Arraignment Before Martial Court

Lance Corporal MartinsLance Corporal Martins

The Nigerian Army has transferred Lance Corporal Martins Idakpini to Sokoto in a bid to secretly arraign him before a martial court.
Tope Akinyode, Idakpini’s lawyer, made the disclosure on Saturday.
Akinyode said, “Information reaching me right now indicates that Lance Corporal Martins has been surreptitiously moved from Abuja to Sokoto to be tried before a martial court on Monday.
“I’m also informed that the army is forcing a lawyer from within the Force on Lance Corporal Martins in a desperate attempt to jeopardise the case and wrongly convict the detained soldier.
“Lance Corporal Martins has been brutalised and subjected to a great deal of dehumanising treatment. He was also denied food and has therefore developed ulcer.”

Lance Corporal Martins Idakpini

Idakpini was arrested in June 2020 shortly after he made a viral video castigating Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Burutai, for the failings of the army to combat and destroy Boko Haram.
Since his arrest, he has remained in detention, incomunicado.

Chinese Government Blocking Our Evacuation, Says Nigerians Stranded In China

Nigerians stranded in China have accused the Chinese Government of blocking their evacuation to Nigeria.
The evacuees, who said they paid $ 1,400 (N655,200) evacuation fee, stated that the government keeps postponing their flight date.
They lamented that the continuous postponement of their evacuation flight has made them incur more expenses.

Speaking with SaharaReporters, one of the stranded ladies, who simply identified herself as Ijeoma and spoke on behalf of other Nigerians, said they have been paying for hotel accommodation and feeding when the government gave them a departure date.
She noted that the indefinite postponement has meant they have to keep spending more money on accommodation until the government was ready to airlift them.
She said, “We paid the sum of $1,400(N655,200) in order to be evacuated back to Nigeria.
“Not only that the cost of this flight is outrageous but we were previously told that the evacuation date is on the 19th of August and the reason why the cost is very high is that the flight will come empty to evacuate Nigerians in China.
“As of 14th of August, it was related to us that because Chinese in Nigeria are having some difficulties and may not depart from Nigeria on the 18th.
“It has affected our original date of departure and there is no guarantee that the flight might come soon.
“We all have been paying for the hotel rooms and our feedings ever since this arrangement has been made and hope that we will be leaving on the 19th.
“This news will not only frustrate us out of our hotels but will do us more harm.”
Ijeoma appealed to the Nigerian Government to make quick intervention in ensuring their swift return to the country.
“What is the essence of paying N655,200 for one way ticket if our fate of being evacuated will be decided by Chinese in Nigeria.
“I want to appeal to the relevant authorities, Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria, Geoffrey Onyeama; the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika; and the Chairman Nigerians in Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa; to come to our rescue.
“We need the Nigerian Government to quickly come to our rescue,” the stranded Nigerians in China pleaded.

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EXPOSED: Former Attorney-General, Adoke, Lied In Several Narratives Concerning His Case On Money Laundering

Mohammed Bello Adoke

A former Acting Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc, Rislanudeen Mohammed, has told a Federal High Court in Abuja how he collected $2.2m in cash from former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mohammed Adoke.
In interviews, his book and several previous submissions, Adoke had said his loan repayment was done directly by one Abubakar Aliyu without knowledge of how that was done.But Mohammed told the court that when the ex-AGF wanted to pay, he called him (Mohammed) to his house and handed him $2,267,200 in cash in a black bag allegedly taken from the boot of his (Adoke’s) car.
The banker, who now works with the Bank of Industry, gave details of his relationship with Adoke while testifying as the second prosecution witness in the trial of the ex-AGF.

Mohammed Bello Adoke

Aliyu Abubakar, a businessman, is the first prosecution witness in the money laundering charges the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission preferred against Adoke.
The anti-graft agency alleged that Adoke had sometime in August 2013 in Abuja accepted a cash payment of the dollar equivalent of N300m from Aliyu and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 16 (2)(b) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended).The prosecution maintained that the former AGF made cash payments that exceeded the approved threshold amounts, outside a financial institution.
Mohammed, who said the ex-AGF was his long-time friend, told the court that one of his colleagues sought his assistance to enable Adoke access N300m facility for about five years.
He said although the facility was a temporary overdraft, which normally should not exceed 30 days, the process, including the documentation and payment of the requisite two per cent fee, amounting to N6m, was not completed.
Mohammed said at a point when officials of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Central Bank of Nigeria came to assess Unity Bank’s liquidity status in view of the prevalence of non-performing loans, they identified Adoke’s account and threatened to name the account as among those belonging to politically exposed persons responsible for the collapse of banks.
The witness averred that because Adoke was his friend, he pressurised the ex-AGF to repay the loan to avoid his name being made public.
The information is contrary to Adoke’s submission that the loan was paid without his knowledge.
According to the former minister in an interview with Premium Times, Aliyu paid the bank directly.
“Somewhere along the line, timelines were not being met to pay back the loan and I couldn’t even sell the land to pay the N200m equity participation and at the same time the loan was going bad and I have to be paying interest. It was a five-year term loan. So, the owner of the property came to me, which was still under construction and said since I cannot pay him the N200m, CBN wants to buy the house and said he should sell it to them since I don’t have proprietary on the property yet. He asked for the certificate but I said I don’t have the certificate. I directed him to the bank, Unity Bank, who paid him the money and took the certificate.
“I called the MD of the bank and thanked him for the loan offer while asking him to take the cash from Alhaji Aliyu and release the property’s certificates in the custody of the bank. The man paid the bank directly.
“Whether he paid them in dollars I don’t know. They collected the money and the bank released the certificate to Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar. He sold the house to CBN. He had already sold the house.”

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E2%80%99s-two-cents-tony-ademiluyi Diezani Alison-Madueke’s Two Cents By Tony Ademiluyi

Deziani Alison-Madueke

2006 was a defining year for affirmative action in Shell Petroleum Development Company – the Anglo Dutch Oil Multinational which is the largest international oil company in the country.
It was the year that a woman was first appointed into the company’s Board of Directors and she scored a first not just in Shell but in all the IOC’s as Shell was the first among them that allowed Nigerians to be appointed into its Board of Directors.
Diezani Alison-Madueke was the first woman to be appointed when she was named Executive Director, External Relations of Shell. She joined the company in 1992 and in less than fifteen years was a Director. This was no mean feat especially when feminists were agitating for a better deal for women in the IOC’s. This feat was only surpassed by the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, who became a director in just nine years.

Deziani Alison-Madueke

Diezani is Ijaw and the daughter of a former traditional ruler in Bayelsa State. Her appointment helped to calm frayed nerves in the oil rich but highly troubled region that excellence and commitment to duty still paid off in Nigeria.
Academically, she was prepared for the job as she had her first degree in architecture from Howard University in the United States and a Masters in Business Administration from Cambridge Judge Business School as a British Council Chevening Scholar in 2003. She had worked as an architect in the US before returning home and joining Shell in 1992.
It was no surprise that in 2007 she caught the attention of the then President Umaru Musa Yar’adua when he appointed her as the Minister for Transport – the first female in the country to get the plum job.
After the death of Yar’adua and the coming into power of Goodluck Jonathan, he moved her to the juiciest of ministries – Petroleum where she was also the first female to get the appointment in 2010.
No sooner had she settled down to work that allegation of graft and abuse of office was levelled against her especially by the anti-corruption online watchdog, Sahara Reporters. Her luxurious lifestyle was splashed online and her alleged mind boggling acquisitions of eye popping properties around the globe surfaced. Kola Aluko, her alleged associate wasn’t also spared from the searchlight. She was the most followed minister by the media in Jonathan’s cabinet.
After the electoral loss of her boss in 2015, she knew that her time was up and the day of reckoning was at hand which explains why she fled on a self-imposed exile to the United Kingdom in a similar way that the late Umaru Dikko, the then Transport Minister in the Second Republic did.
There was a story that made the rounds that she and Buhari actually travelled on the same flight to the UK but the no nonsense former General rebuffed all her entreaties for them to have a talk.
She has been in the land of our former colonial masters since 2015 and all attempts to extradite her to face trial back home by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have all ended up in a gargantuan fiasco.
Assets, jewellery, properties running into billions of naira have allegedly been recovered from her. There was even a strident call for her removal from the hall of fame among Chevening Scholars as she had been thoroughly demonized without a proper court trial. The media is indeed very powerful and has rightfully earned its sobriquet as the fourth estate of the realm.
There are allegations that she has been frantically trying to get the citizenship of the Dominican Republic and even gifted their Prime Minister a property so as to avoid being extradited back home. Some years ago, she attempted to court the sympathy of the beleaguered populace by releasing some gory pictures of herself battling cancer to popular journalist, Dele Momodu.
Momodu denied being paid in doing any hatchet job on her behalf and opined that he was only doing his job as a journalist without any pecuniary reward in sight.
She has maintained her innocence and has given the public omerta treatment.
Her husband, Rear Admiral Alison Madueke wrote his memoir last year and warned her not to dip her hands into the cookie jar before she took up the appointment to serve her motherland. He visited her in the UK and from the pictures he shared, she seemed to have ‘recovered’ rather remarkably from the cancer scourge.
In a virtual event she stirred the hornets’ nest when she blasted internet fraudsters popularly known as yahoo yahoo boys when she said:
“The ones that have swag, the Yahoo Yahoo boys as my son would say; these, in short, are the role models they are looking at. These are the ones that reinforce negative societal norms and values.
This is a travesty of an unfolding tragedy for us. Why have I spent time talking about fatherless homes and the impact it has on our children? The truth of the matter is that an irresponsible boy tends to become an irresponsible man and it is, therefore, a vicious cycle. If you plant yam, you cannot harvest plantain”.
She also added: “There are no shortcuts to working your way up the ladder of life. Progressing in life, in work and relationships – marital or otherwise – is always dependent on consistent effort and hard work.
As we create more responsible young men, we will generate more responsible fathers which will, in turn, engender a more sustainable society and build a greater nation of successful Ijaw men and women”.
Her statement naturally resulted in a backlash from the public as she was not an appropriate role model to dish out such advice. If she was that innocent her traducers say, why has she been doing everything to avoid coming back home to face her trial? Just recently, she was appointed a commissioner of trade and investment by the Prime Minister of the Dominican Republic, Roosevelt Skeritt and was handed a diplomatic passport to protect her from any sort of extradition from the UK.
A clear conscience fears no accusation. What is preventing her from returning back home to at least clear her name? It was in the same cabinet that she ‘served’ that the likes of Ngozi Okonjo-iweala who has gotten many board appointments and is currently gunning to be the head honcho at the World Trade Organization and Akinwunmi Adesina who is angling for a second term in office at the African Development Bank after being cleared of all the accusations levelled against him. Why aren’t they on the run?
It is an insult to our collective intelligence to pontificate from abroad while mind boggling allegations of graft running into billions of dollars is heaped on her without her wanting to ensure that she faces a fair trial. The hypocrisy is extremely nauseating. While I am not backing cybercrimes, the mindless looting and brigandage that goes on by public officials is partly responsible for many youths turning to crimes online to eke out a living.
She even mentioned her son in her rant. Was it not the same son who was captured on camera in a yacht? What honest work has he done to be able to afford such a holiday? The way and manner our ruinous elite toss us up and down is rather tragic.
The relationship between the Nigerian masses and elite is akin to what was obtained in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ where the pigs ended up being worse than Mr. Jones who they overthrew.
The EFCC should take this affront by Diezani as the fuel needed to perfect her extradition back home. Nigeria shouldn’t be reduced to a comedy circus where all sorts of obscene entertainers hold sway.
Until she is proven innocent in a court of competent jurisdiction, Diezani should keep quiet on matters bordering on public morality as she doesn’t have the moral high ground to lecture the emotionally battered and scarred public.
Who knows whether her recent comment wasn’t part of a public relations spin to launder her image? The soapbox should be far away from her till she does the needful by clearing her name back home.
Her two cents on corruption is definitely not needed by the youths.
Tony Ademiluyi wrote from Lagos

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Top Lagos APC Member, Lanre Rasak, Is Dead

A top member of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos, Lanre Razak, is dead.
Razak, who is also a member of the Governor’s Advisory Committee in Lagos, died on Saturday at the age of 74 due to an undisclosed ailment.

He will be buried on Sunday according to Islamic rites, according to findings by our correspondent.

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Nigeria News Headlines Today

Nigeria News Today Headlines Update

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Sunday 16th August 2020

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Sunday 16th August 2020

Dubai Sends Urgent Food Supplies To Nigeria

Nigerian Airport Officials Allegedly Collecting Money In Place Of COVID-19 Test Results

Air Force Destroys Bandits Camp In Kaduna

Activist Accuses Kogi Politicians Of Using DSS To Harass, Intimidate Residents

BREAKING: DSS Invites Former Speaker, Ghali Umar Na’abba, For Criticising Buhari’s Government

BREAKING: Army Transfers Lance Corporal Martins To Sokoto For Secret Arraignment Before Martial Court

Chinese Government Blocking Our Evacuation, Says Nigerians Stranded In China

EXPOSED: Former Attorney-General, Adoke, Lied In Several Narratives Concerning His Case On Money Laundering

E2%80%99s-two-cents-tony-ademiluyi Diezani Alison-Madueke’s Two Cents By Tony Ademiluyi

Top Lagos APC Member, Lanre Rasak, Is Dead