$2.1 Arms Deal: EFCC closes in on Ex-Vice President, Namadi Sambo

Indications emerged yesterday that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) is closing in on some former Presidential aides, including those of ex-Vice-President Namadi Sambo, in its ongoing probe of $2.1billion arms cash.

VP Namadi Sambo

Also, some contractors who handled projects under the late National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi, have been invited for questioning by the EFCC.

It was also learnt that there is a manhunt for a former National Chairman  of the Peoples Democratic Party, Adamu Mu’azu, who was central to the disbursement of funds to party leaders.

A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: “We are closing in on a few presidential aides, including some of those who served ex-VP Namadi Sambo on their involvement in the arms cash bazaar.

“We have invited some contractors who handled a few projects when Gen. Owoye Azazi was in charge for questioning too.

“The situation is messy and unfortunate but we will get to the bottom of it and recover public funds.”

It was gathered that  Muazu’s whereabouts was unknown.

Muazu was said to be central to the disbursement of funds to six chairmen of the Contact and Mobilisation Committees for the geopolitical zones.

The coordinators were Bode George, Jim Nwobodo, Yerima Abdullahi, Ahmadu Ali, Attahiru Bafarawa and Peter Odili.

Although a former Minister of State for Finance, Amb. Bashir Yuguda exposed the disbursement of the funds to the six coordinators, some of them denied knowing or meeting the ex-minister.

They said they got their shares from Muazu, who has been abroad since he stepped down as the PDP chair.

Fresh facts have revealed that the deal between  the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Chief Olu Falae-led Social Democratic Party (SDP) bordered on  six issues.

Falae has admitted collecting N100million as part of the deal.

It was learnt that the SDP raised six issues before it could support the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in last year’s presidential election.

A letter by Chief Tony Anenih, who was then Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), dated January 26, 2015, confirmed the claim by the National Chairman of the SDP, Chief Olu Falae, that there was inter-party cooperation between the PDP and the SDP to support Jonathan’s presidential ambition.

Anenih’s letter had clearly responded to the six issues, thus paving the way for the PDP-SDP working cooperation.

The letter, entitled: “Inter-Party Co-operation” and signed by Anenih in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP reads: “I write to sincerely thank you for your letter dated January 23,2015, on the above subject matter.

“After due consultations with relevant stakeholders of our party, I am pleased to convey to you our decisions on the issues and to further inform you that the President and the leadership of our party have expressed delight and strong optimism to fully cooperate and work with the SDP in the circumstance.

”Please be assured that the report of the National Conference will be implemented to the letter.

“We believe that having regards to the fact that the National Conference was a baby of the President, he is in a better position to implement it.  And this is what he is doing.

”There is no doubt that our party, the PDP and your party, the SDP, are on the same page on this issue.

“Apart from the fact that this administration has done more arrests, investigations, prosecutions and convictions of corrupt cases, the President has continuously laid emphasis on the need to develop an appropriate technology to comprehensively combat corruption and its vices.

“The approach, for example, has produced immense results in eliminating corruption that was associated with the distribution of fertilizers in Nigeria in the past.”

“It is the primary duty of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens and secure the territorial integrity of the nation.

“Terrorism has become a global phenomenon and fighting it requires the co-operation of not just the entire citizens but the support of the international community.  The President is working on this.

”This is certainly a primary focus of this Administration considering the various programmes designed and implemented since 2011; programmes such as SURE-P, YouWin, Agricultural and Industrial transformation, including the railways that have generated massive employment opportunities for Nigerians.  The President intends to sustain the tempo and improve on existing records.”

“This is an area that the President is not only ready to give a critical look at but he is also prepared to welcome new ideas and positive contributions from leaders of the SDP.”

The sixth issue, which dwelled on “participation of SDP in the PDP Government”, he responded thus: “Please be assured that the SDP will be considered as worthy participant in the Government and will be adequately consulted in this regards.”

Anenih said  in the letter that former President Jonathan requested for his account detail for reimbursement of the money that he spent on some political assignments he (Jonathan) gave to him and was therefore not in a position to know which office his account details would be sent for reimbursement.

He was also said to have stated in the letter that he spent over N440 million of his personal money, which the N260 million paid into his account could not defray.

The trio of Falae, Yakassai and Ladoja have already confirmed that they received N100 million, N63 million and N100 million respectively from Anenih for purposes specified in his letter.

$2.1 Arms Deal: EFCC closes in on Ex-Vice President, Namadi Sambo

BREAKING: Buhari names deputy chief of staff, media aide for Vice President Osinbajo

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Rahman Adeola Ipaye as Deputy Chief of Staff and Laolu Akande as Senior Special Assistant (Media & Publicity) in the Presidency.

Buhari and Osinbajo

The two new appointees will work in the Office of the Vice President, a statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Femi Adesina, said.

Mr. Ipaye is the immediate past Attorney General of Lagos State.

He studied at the University of Lagos where he graduated with B.A. (Hons) Degree (History) in 1984; LL.B. Hons (1988) and LL.M. (1991). He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators respectively.

Before his appointment as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ipaye was employed as a lecturer in the Department of Commercial and Industrial Law, University of Lagos (1992 to 2001); Special Assistant (Legal Matters) to the Governor of Lagos State (2001 to 2007); and Special Adviser (Taxation and Revenue) to the Governor of Lagos State and member of the State Executive Council (2007 to 2011).

Mr. Laolu Akande graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1990 with an honours degree in History and a Masters degree in Communication & Language Arts in 1992.

He became a Staff Reporter of the Guardian newspaper in 1990 while still serving under the National Youth Service Corps. He left The Guardian to join the foundation team of The News Magazine in 1993, where he became Senior Writer. In 1997, he was appointed by Nigerian Tribune as editor of the Tribune on Saturday, a position he held until he moved to the United States of America in 1998.

In the United States, he worked as a journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer and New York Newsday. He also served at the United Nations as a Press Officer and later as an Advocacy and Communication Consultant. He was also the Bureau Chief of The Guardian in North America and the Executive Director of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN.

Mr. Akande taught at the State University of New York at Stonybrook and also Suffolk County Community College in Long Island, New York between 2002 and 2015.

Ipaye and Akande have been working with Vice President Osinbajo since the inception of the present Administration.​

BREAKING: Buhari names deputy chief of staff, media aide for Vice President Osinbajo

VP Debate: 100,000 Barrels, Not 400,000 Crude Lost Per Day – Sambo

1

The Vice President, Namadi Sambo, has said Nigeria loses 100,000 bar­rels of crude oil per day to pipeline vandalism and not 400,000 as has wrong­ly touted. He said each pipeline attacked by vandals carried crude from various companies and each of the affected companies usually shut down their wells to prevent loss and other damages to the environment.

Jonathan, ex-leaders, govs resolve to end terrorism before Dec

Sambo, who was one of the three vice presidential candidates that participated in the Nigerian Election Debate Group (NEDG) Vice Presi­dential Debate 2015, yesterday said the present administration, led by President Goodluck Jonathan had been fighting the menace through a special task force that had been working jointly to end pipeline vandalism in the country.

He said the present administration was working with other countries to stop them from patronising the crooks. “We are trying to stop this criminal activities and we are succeeding,” he said.

On insurgency, Sambo said it was not peculiar to Nigeria, describing it as unfortunate.

However, he said government was strengthening the security agencies, making sure they were properly kitted and retrain the personnel so that they could address the menace.

He said the Joint Task Force had recovered many of the areas earlier taken over by Boko Haram.

Sambo said the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were properly catered for while there were plans to rebuild the destroyed villages, revealing that more than $100 billion had been raised to that effect through the Victims Support Fund.

On how the administration intends to tackle corruption if elected, Sambo said corruption was a cancer that must be cut off or treated.

He spoke on the success recorded in agriculture through e-wallet system, which he said enable the government to save billions of naira annually. The vice president said about N200 billion had been saved from ghost workers through the central payment system, while N300 billion had been recovered from corrupt officials.

Other participants were the vice presidential candidate of KOWA Party, Seidu Bobboi and his United Progressive Party (UPP) counterpart, Barr Bello.

The vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was absent.

Viewed 1 times
VP Debate: 100,000 Barrels, Not 400,000 Crude Lost Per Day – Sambo

APC rules out Fashola as vice presidential candidate

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has been ruled out as a running mate to the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress anytime the candidate emerges, investigation by The PUNCH has revealed.

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola

A highly placed source in the party, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity in Abuja on Sunday, said that Fashola’s religion had ruled him out of the race.

He said since it was almost certain that the party would field a Muslim as its presidential candidate, it would therefore be out of place to field another Muslim as the running mate.

Apart from a former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the party also has three other known presidential aspirants.

They are a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwakwanso; and a newspaper publisher, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah.

Out of them, only Nda-Isaiah is a Christian.

The source said that though Fashola remained the best candidate for the position, he however regretted that the issue of religion would deny the party and the country the chance of fielding the governor.

He said, “You know that the South-West is a base for the APC and it also contributed immensely to its formation. We would have preferred Fashola because of his pedigree in the state. Moreover, of all the APC governors from the zone, he is the only one doing his second term.

“But this issue of religion is the problem. Apart from this, other APC governors from the zone are also Muslims. You may need to recall that the enemies of our party tried in vain before to label the party a Muslim party.

“Even though they have failed, we may also need to be guided by the words of advice from former President Olusegun Obasanjo against any party fielding same religion ticket. This is what is hampering us concerning Fashola, whose performance and competence cannot be queried.”

The source said that even though the national leadership of the party was aware that the people of the “South-West are not religious but we are dealing with a larger society now. So, we must be careful.”

Viewed 1 times
APC rules out Fashola as vice presidential candidate

Sambo is part of the Winning team – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has decried attempts by a section of the media to impute rift between President Goodluck Jonathan and his Vice, Arc. Mohammed Namadi Sambo ahead of the 2015 general elections, expressing  implicit satisfaction in the working relationship between them and further affirming the Vice President as part of the winning team.

Jonathan, ex-leaders, govs resolve to end terrorism before Dec

A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, Monday, restated the the overwhelming confidence of the party in a winning team that has demonstrably transformed Nigeria in less than four years despite challenges.

” There is no doubt whatsoever that the Vice President has the implicit confidence of the President. The  PDP is therefore very pleased that they are working together in actualizing the transformation agenda to the popular acclaim of both Nigerians and the international community. ”

“We wish to place on record as well  that the 66th NEC meeting of our great party which endorsed President Jonathan as the sole candidate of the PDP for the 2015 general elections, responsibly reasoned and anchored this decision on the outstanding performance of the Jonathan Presidency of which Vice President Sambo is an integral part of. ”

“This motion which was unanimously endorsed by NEC left no room for any form of speculation  as Sen. Jim Nwobodo who seconded it, expressly commended both the President and his Vice for lifting the banner of the PDP very high while  praying the  NEC to approve the motion.”

The party added that its statement was to clarify obvious misinterpretation arising from its position at the world press conference yesterday, where it averred that the President was yet to accept the sole presidential candidacy offered by its NEC.

Viewed 1 times
Sambo is part of the Winning team – PDP