My crush of the week: First lady of Nigeria, Mrs Aisha Buhari looks gorgeous and cute on $3000 ferragamo virgin wool dress

Lagos police and Ibadan police shouldn't try to come to me, if they see me on Rolex, Italian Gold Chain, Gucci with Prada.
It is not only politicians that have right to use expensive things. Warning to South West Nigerian police...

Obanikoro: I gave Fayose $5.37m cash for Ekiti poll

                                   

Embattled former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has told EFCC officials that he gave Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose, the $5.37 million (N2.23 billion) he collected from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. Obanikoro has been in EFCC custody since on Monday October 17th for his alleged role in the misappropriation of $2.1 billion arms procurement fund.

The Nation reports that the said amount was wired to Sylva Mcnamara, which has been linked to Obanikoro and his sons. Obanikoro during his interrogation, allegedly claimed to have transferred the money to Fayose for disbursement. According to him, he handed Fayose $5,377,000 in cash and N1.3billion was received by the governor’s associate, Abiodun Agbele.

During their interrogation, EFCC officials confronted Obanikoro with a petition from the Office of the National Security Adviser  titled “Payment to companies with no contract awards or approval” and dated November 28th 2015. Obanikoro said having gone through the petition, he discovered that Sylva Mcnamara was No. 78 on the list of firms being investigated, having “collected the aggregate sum of N4,685,000,000 between April 4, 2014 and November 13, 2014.
An EFCC official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the money when receivced was trasferred immediately to Fayose
“N2.2billion was transferred to Sylva Mcnamara for onward transfer to Mr. Ayodele Fayose on the instruction of the National Security Adviser (NSA). The sum of N1.3billion cash was brought in a bullion van by Diamond Bank on the instruction of the NSA. In addition, the sum of N60million was converted to dollars at the rate of N168 per dollar and altogether the sum of $5,377,000 was handed over in cash by me to Mr. Fayose while the N1.3billion was received by Mr. Fayose’s associate, Mr. Abiodun Agbele, in the presence of my Aide-de-Camp (ADC), Lt. Adewale, who also accompanied them to the bank along with the bank officials. I didn’t interact with the bank officials. I called Fayose before the funds were handed over to Mr. Abiodun Agbele. I spoke to Fayose with my phone at Akure airport.”
On how the cash was transferred to Fayose, the source said Obanikoro told investigators that “two flights were used to convey the money from Lagos”.
The ex-minister said he “took off with the first flight with part of the money. The second flight brought the remaining funds to Akure airport and I directed that it should be handed over to the same person,” he was quoted as saying.
The source added that the former Minister maintained that part of the cash was used to ward off Boko Haram aggression in Lagos and in the Southwest.
“He told us that he is not the owner of the company in question but introduced the owner, Mr. Kareem Taiwo, to the NSA, Mr. Sambo Dasuki, when the threat of Boko Haram became more visible in Lagos. He said the government wanted to “incorporate local  input into the intelligence gathering and prevention of terrorist attack on Lagos and the Southwest”.
The EFCC had discovered that Sylvan Mcnamara Limited, allegedly owned by Obanikoro and his sons,   was used to launder the N4.745billion. The company, which was incorporated in November 2011, has the following as its directors: the ex-Minister’s aide, Ikenna Ezekwe(700,000 shares) of 51 Simpson Street, Ebute-Metta; Idowu Oshodi(299,000 shares) of 8, Prince Tayo Adesanya Street, Park View Estate, Ikoyi; and Elizabeth Adebiyi(1,000 shares) of 3, Adedoyin Street, Ijeshatedo, Surulere.
Ezekwe has had his accounts defrozen by the EFCC since the slush funds were not traced to him.
Part of a document being used in the investigation reads “To set the stage for the use of the company for money laundering, the board of directors on May 7, 2012  passed a resolution that the company should open an account and appointed Mr. Gbolahan Obanikoro, Ikenna Ezekwe, Ms. Theresa Matuluko (Secretary) and Mr. Babajide Obanikoro as the signatories to the account. The board added that the signing combination be that any of the signatories can sign alone.”
According to EFCC, when it was time to draw the N4.745billion from ONSA as a war chest for the Ekiti governorship poll, ex-Minister Obanikoro made the account of Sylvan Mcnamara Limited available and coordinated the disbursement.
The breakdown of the disbursement is as follows:
N N759, 384, 300 changed into dollars through Bureau de change;
N160million used to purchase cars through Balmoral International Limited;
N1, 219, 490,000 ferried by Obanikoro in two flights to Akure and received by Fayose’s associate, Abiodun; and
balance of about N2billion withdrawn by Obanikoro and his two children in cash.
Some of the bureau de change involved in the transactions and the amounts credited to them include  A.A.G.B.S Oil and Gas  (N168,000,000.00); Sylvan Mcnamara Ltd (N167,500,000.00); Northline Ltd (N835,000.00);  Northline Ltd (N83,750,000.00); Five Star Ltd N(37,600,000.00); A.B.A Trading Ent (N268,301,500.00); Villagolf Bureau De Change (N1,425,000.00); Ahmad &Omar (N350,000.000); Northline Ltd  (N1,680,000.00); Northline Limited A (N2,325,300); Rehoboth Homes  (20,000,0000); Northline Ltd (N5,932,500.00); Northline Ltd (N842,500); Northline Ltd (N842,500.00).
Source: The Nation

Video: See the elegance dress of Michelle Obama as the white house welcomes Italian prime minister to Obama's final State dinner as the president

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama just welcomed Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Mrs. Agnese Landini of Italy to the final State Dinner of the Obama presidency.

Видео опубликовано The White House (@whitehouse) Окт 18 2016 в 5:34 PDT

Russian airstrikes killed 20 members of the same family in Aleppo, Syria- Mostly children

A country like Russia that is a little bit better than Africa in terms of standard of living and in terms of economy is not ripe enough to abandon its federation for other countries like Syria.

Twenty members of the same family were killed in airstrikes on the neighbourhood of Marjah in rebel-held east Aleppo Monday morning, according to activists at the Aleppo Media Center (AMC) and the White Helmets group.

Two six-week old babies, a boy and a girl  were among those killed, according to a list of names and ages listed by the AMC.
In recent days, hundreds of civilians have died amid the Syrian army's renewed offensive on rebel-controlled parts of the city.
A video shows some of the children killed lying shoulder-to-shoulder on the side of a street, wrapped in white cloth. A man squats and kisses one of the infants on the forehead before carrying the bodies away.

Since Sunday, airstrikes have killed at least 45 people in two neighbourhoods in Aleppo, the AMC said.
The death toll continued to climb after Moscow vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution Saturday to stop the bombing in Aleppo and allow access for humanitarian aid.

As the strikes have continued, Western powers accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters of war crimes.
Both the United States and United Kingdom have mulled potential economic sanctions against Syria and Russia due to the Aleppo crisis.

Russia with bad economy and with poverty rising among its citizens, abandoned his country and continues to bomb the civilians in Syria. I personally do not know what the people of Russia are thinking, i can't understand while they will allow their under performance dictator to move to the east, after destroying half of Ukraine.

Many Russians are jobless, no good accommodation, no good health care services, bad education, bad infrastructural facilities in many regions in Russia. Many of them do not have job, many of them are living below average life. The standard of living in Russia is below average, the standard of living in Russia is almost at the same level with many African nations, because many of them are working in shops, super market, securities, factories, industries and firms with $250, $300 to $400 as monthly salary,provided your job is located in big cities like Moscow, St Petersburg or Siberia.

They can't protest, they are afraid to talk, because of the dictator they have as the president, human rights is not effective in Russian federation. Russians are always sad and quiet like everything is alright with them. Their sadness leads to aggressiveness, and that's why many people says Russians are aggressive.

Russian Economy keeps struggling and falling and Vladimir Putin moved to the east to support the Syrian leader to whom the citizens oppose, he moved there to support Assad  and continues to kill children with airstrikes, while many Russians in Russia can't even afford to put food on their tables.

Russian economy enters recession, because President Putin has invested more than 60 percent of its total gross domestic, national  income in building nuclear weapons, and tactically and mentally preparing for nuclear war.  I expected President Putin to invest massively in Russia, in order to take the Russians out of the communist cell, that they've found themselves since the era of Joseph Stalin, but he failed to do it.
President Putin chose to bomb Syria, which has led to the death of hundreds of innocent children.
Tears wouldn't stop dropping from my eyes as i am writing this article with anger. My cry won't help these kids.

Written, edited and published by Olusola Olaniyi - Publisher at Olusola Olaniyi's Planet Blog, Mariupol State University - Ukraine.

Emirates airline and Kenya airline set to stop working in Nigeria

Emirates, one of the biggest foreign airlines operating in Nigeria, has said it is stopping flight operations to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja effective October 22nd 2016.


Similarly, East African carrier Kenya Airways, has announced that it will suspend flights to Abuja with effect from November 15, 2016 as part of its restructuring and loss saving efforts.


It was gathered from industry sources that Emirates has formally written the Minister of State, Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika over its intention to stop flight operations into Abuja following the airline's inability to buy forex and remit its sales.


The letter, it was gathered, was received by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation on behalf of the Minister.
An industry source familiar with the matter told our correspondent that the letter indicated 22nd October 2016 as the date Emirates would suspend the Abuja flight operations if respite did not come their way.
The source said if after weeks of the Abuja suspension, no drastic change happened, Emirates would also suspend Lagos operations indefinitely. When that occurs, Emirates would have exited the Nigerian market. "Emirates has huge money in naira at the banks. It cannot repatriate its sales because it cannot buy dollars. This is having negative effect on their operations," the source said.

On its part, the Kenya Airline indicated that the suspension of its Abuja flights was triggered by the dwindling traffic from Abuja to Nairobi, the airline's operational hub.

Kenya Airways CEO Mbuvi Ngunze disclosed this plan in a statement in Lagos which indicated that the airline would however continue to operate its daily flight from Lagos to Nairobi.
It was learnt that the suspension of the flight was triggered by the dwindling traffic from Abuja to Nairobi, the airline's operational hub.

Kenya Airways CEO Mbuvi Ngunze disclosed this plan in a statement obtained in Lagos which indicated that the airline would however continue to operate its daily flight from Lagos to Nairobi.


Source:Daily Trust

Iraqi government forces set to retake Mosul from ISIS militants

Iraqi government forces have launched a U.S.-backed offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, a high-stakes battle to retake the militants’ last major stronghold in the country.

Two years after the jihadists seized the city of 1.5 million people and declared a caliphate from there encompassing tracts of Iraq and Syria, a force of some 30,000 Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Sunni tribal fighters began to advance.

Aso Rock Cabal: The unaired part of Aisha Buhari's interview - by Jafaar Jafaar

                         
Read the revealing post by Nigerian journalist Jaafar Jaafar on the unaired part of Mrs Aisha Buhari's controversial interview with BBC Hausa Service:
At the heat of the intense pressure mounted on the BBC to stop airing the remaining part of the controversial Aisha Buhari interview a few days ago, I had the privilege of listening to the interview before it was fully aired. My good friend, the Head of the Abuja bureau of the BBC, Naziru Mika'il Abubakar, invited me to his office for comment on the interview, and directed that it be played to me before recording my comment.
Listening to the president's wife passionately expressing herself on how her husband runs Nigeria left me cringing. Reading between the lines, I realized Mrs. Buhari was sending SOS to Nigerians to save her bewitched, servile husband from the clutches of the Aso Rock witches, popularly known as "Aso cabal". The Buhari I knew before election was not the obtuse person we have today as president. The Buhari I promoted during campaign had no nepotic, despotic or robotic tendencies. The Buhari I voted for was not this pliable. Forgive me if my knowledge of him was superficial.
Aisha Buhari might have pitched the nation a curve ball, but her interview is actually a deafening echo of what we've saying for ages about her husband. When I first raised alarm on the dangers of the influence of numero uno of the cabal, Mamman Daura, on the Buhari administration barely three weeks after Buhari took oath of office, I received all manner of insults and invective. Today a lot of my predictions have come to reality. But if actually the Mamman Daura cabal is the one running this country, then it appears to be a very unintelligent lot whose mastery does not go beyond the art of nepotism and crafts of plagiarism. This cabal has kept both the nation and the president under spell, leaving the economy to slide into recession, our currency to crash beyond salvation and impunity to reign supreme. This cabal suffocated a mega political party Nigerians from all regions laboured and united to build. It always saddens me to realize that our president has been turned into a puppet, managed by some half-witted puppeteers, who are majorly dextrose at swinging his legs to Europe, America and Asia, stretching his hand to perpetuate nepotism or opening his mouth to goof.
From ministers to the heads of agencies, there is either portfolio misplacement or elevation of incompetence by this cabal right from the outset of the present administration. This very same cabal gave plum appointments to the progeny of the famous Kaduna mafia, some of whom even served the immediate-past administration or openly campaigned for the PDP.
A leading member of the cabal, who is the present Chief of Staff to the president, Abba Kyari, was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as member of the Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Task Force in 2012. A year earlier, Kyari had turned down Buhari's offer to serve as the secretary of one of CPC presidential campaign committees -- perhaps because Buhari had little chance of winning.
Take the case of Sokoto ministerial nominee for instance. Any loyal party man will not be happy to see the daughter of the late Kaduna mafia Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji, Aisha Abubakar appointed minister from Sokoto State. Aisha openly campaigned for the PDP governorship candidate in Sokoto State and her brother, Aminu Abubakar Alhaji, who unsuccessfully vied for Tambuwal/Kebbe Federal Constituency ticket on the platform of PDP.
Again, no one who wishes the APC well will be happy to see Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, the daughter of another Kaduna mafia, Yahaya Hamza, appointed minister from Kaduna State. Zainab headed NEITI under Jonathan and contributed to the PDP during election.
Any card carrying member of the APC will be saddened to see Mohammed Bello, the son of Mamman Daura's friend, Musa Bello, appointed minister from Adamawa State. Mohammed Bello headed the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria under Jonathan but was given the plum FCT ministry by the Aso cabal. I believe if he had gone against PDP, he would have been removed immediately after Jonathan lost election.
But look at how the cabal dumped loyal party members in Enugu like Osita Okechukwu to appoint Geoffrey Enyeama, who had hitherto never met Buhari nor worked for the APC, as minister of Foreign Affairs.
Or, will any APC politician be happy with Senator Ita Enang, a top Jonathan campaigner, as Senior Special Assistant to the president on National Assembly (Senate) or Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, also a top Jonathan campaigner, as chairman of the almighty Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, while loyal party men like Senator Magnus Abe were kicked to backstage? Senator Abe was even shot by the police during election in Rivers.
Aisha Buhari might have been wondering where were loyal Buhari campaigners like Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Faruq Adamu Aliyu, Dele Alake, Barrister Ismail Ahmed, Architect Waziri Bulama, Yusuf Tuga, Yakubu Lame, Dr. Hassan Lawan, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, Umaru Dembo, Ubale Hashim, Umar Dangiwa, among others?
The president's wife and party supporters will also be incensed to see appointees of the past government still heading a number of agencies and departments. The cabal should know that party men are piqued that the 12 agencies of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources are still headed by the appointees of the past government as well as a minister, Engr Sulaiman Adamu, appointed not for his political contributions to the success of Buhari but close family ties.
Now take a cursory look at the reappointment of Umaru Ibrahim as managing director of NDIC. Ibrahim was appointed in December 2010 by Jonathan but was reappointed by Buhari to serve another five years as if there were no competent persons within the party fold. One still wonders why the Director-General of PenCom, Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, is retained despite the fact that her appointment was initially done in violation of law. Does Buhari think his party is happy that Malam Sani Sidi, a protege of former Vice President Namadi Sambo, is still the head of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA?
Whoever wishes the president and APC well must feel strongly about this. As someone who stood by her husband during election, Aisha Buhari has rights to complain when some forces took over her husband or when things go wrong in the party. I still believe she loves her husband more than those that are insulting or mocking her. She is still the highest authority on the president's mental and socio-physical state.
One basic fact a lot of fanatical supporters of Buhari forget is that he rode on a saddle of political party to power. The fortunes of the party are diminishing and those who laboured to build the party and ensured the emergence of Buhari as candidate are relegated, while political ambulance chasers take the centre stage. APC's growth is inorganic, and so needs some therapies to strengthen it's fragility.
There is concern about the political future of Buhari and APC. As it stands today, barring any miracle, Buhari could either be the first incumbent Nigerian president to lose a party ticket at the primaries or the second president to lose re-election in Nigeria's politics.