Kidnappers have not kill Jonathan's cousin- Police

The Police in Bayelsa State have described as untrue, claims that the abducted 70-year-old Chief Inengite Nitabai, cousin to President Goodluck Jonathan, has been killed in the kidnappers’ den.

The news of the alleged death of the septuagenarian hit Yenagoa, the state capital, on Sunday.
According to the Police authorities, the rumour was a mischievous attempt to throw off track, investigation into the kidnap and the arrest of those involved.

A police source, however, confirmed the arrest of a 57 years old man said to be the father of the leader of the kidnappers’ gang and five others, over the abduction of the former university lecturer.

It was learnt that the suspects were arrested in Odioma community, off the Atlantic coast of Brass, in Brass Local Government Area of the state.

The septuagenarian was abducted penultimate Sunday at his Otuoke country home by 10 gunmen, who later established contact with his family demanding N500 million ransom to set him free.

The family, it was, however, learnt, agreed to pay N30 million, which was reportedly rejected by the kidnappers.

It was reliably learnt from a security source that a crack team of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the state police command was close to wrapping up the investigation and securing the release of the septuagenarian.
The security source also confirmed the arrest of a chief from Odioma over his alleged involvement in the abduction.

Confab: It’s a distraction, waste of resources —Tinubu

Senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, weekend, criticised the convocation of a National Dialogue by President Jonathan saying it is a distraction and mere waste of time and resources.

She also questioned the rationale behind the convocation of a National Dialogue when the 2015 elections is around the corner.
Speaking during the 10th Town Hall meeting with constituents of Lagos Central Senatorial District, Sen. Tinubu said the government must get its priorities right in pursuing real economic growth and Nigeria must cure itself of waste and over dependence on oil income.

According to her; “In the 2014 budget that just passed through second reading on Tuesday February 4, 2014, a total sum of 7 billion was allocated for the National Dialogue. I am not against convening a National Conference, but the question is why now that gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states are just around the corner.”

Actors name Jonathan as Grand Patron

 The Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, has decorated President Goodluck Jonathan as the Grand Patron of the body.

The decoration was held on Tuesday when the President of the guild, Ibinabo Fiberesima led others prominent actors and film makers including Segun Arinze, Fidelis Duker and Stephanie Okereke to the State House, Abuja.

The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku was also in attendance.

It will be recalled that in 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan at a presidential dinner to celebrate the movie industry at 20, held at State House, Marina, Lagos unveiled a N3 billion  package to help turnaround Nollywood, which has seen growth in production and sales within past years, but remains heavily criticized for low content quality.

Some of the photographs were shared by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati via his twitter handle, @abati1990.

D’banj Becomes 2nd Nigerian To Get Verified On Facebook

D’banj is officially the second Nigerian/the first celebrity to get verified on Facebook. The artiste with 792, 000 likes on Facebook just got verified with a blue ribbon now showing on his official page. Unlike twitter, being verified on Facebook is said to be more difficult. President Goodluck Jonathan was the only Nigerian that was verified before now.

FG orders 53 gold-plated iPhones worth N649m

The Federal Government has ordered 53 custom made goldplated iPhones from a United Kingdom-based company, Gold and Co, to commemorate the country’s 53rd independence anniversary on October 1.
A Bristol-born businessman based in Dubai, Mr. Amjad Ali, who runs the luxury goods firm, disclosed this in an interview with The Independent of London.
He said Nigeria had joined his growing list of clients which include royal families, governments and minted customers across Russia, China and the Middle East who have ordered the gold-plated devices that cost up to £50,000 (N12.2m); meaning that the potential bill for Nigeria could be up to N649m.
According to him, basic models in gold or rose gold cost from £3,000. The iPhones ordered
by the Federal Government will carry the national emblem.
“We will engrave them with the coat of arms, a shield and two horses,” he said.
The 42-year-old entrepreneur, who grew up in Glasgow, has pre-ordered hundreds of new iPhones. His team at Gold and Co. will set to work the day after launch before delivering the devices to luxury retailers.
“We strip the units down and then plate them in copper, nickel and then pure gold,” he told The Independent. “We have limited units per region and each is numbered and placed in a handmade wooden box with a certificate of authenticity and wax seal.”
Ali typically delivers 50 devices a month, including Blackberries and iPads, but orders rose to more than 300 a month when the iPhone 5 was launched last year. The firm expects greater demand still for the sixth-generation device, announced yesterday.
Gold and Co.’s customers have included the Saudi royal family, which, Ali says, ordered a gold iPhone studded with hundreds of diamonds, including a giant piece that served as the device’s “home” button. The bill: £50,000.
The company has also supplied an engraved gold iPad to each of the rooms at the luxury “six-star” Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.
For the new iPhone, Ali has added a platinum option to the gold and rose gold currently offered. “Muslim men are not supposed to wear gold,” he explains. “We had government departments for example cancelling orders, so now we’re launching platinum to tap into a huge market. Most importantly, it’s a third colour. Everyone wants to be different.”
The orders come at a time government is complaining of shortage of funds to pay off striking university lecturers who have refused to work for two month now due to the failure of government to pay outstanding allowances.
In a swift reaction however, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, denied that the Federal Government had placed such an order.
Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Joseph Mutah, Maku said: “We have never heard anything like that. The story is utterly false and mischievous, there is no order like that at least by this government”, he told National Mirror last night.

Information from National Mirror newspaper was used in this report.

Jonathan sacks education minister, eight others

President Goodluck Jonathan has reshuffled his cabinet, dropping nine ministers.
The ministers affected are Ruqayat Rufai (Education); Zainab Kunchi (Power, [state]); Buka Tijani (Agriculture [state]), Shamsudeen Usman (National Planning; Ita Okon (science and technology);  Olugbenga Ashiru (foreign affairs); Ama Pepple (lands) and Hadiza Mailafia (environment).
Details later…

I did not ask Jonathan to free Al- Mustapha – T.B. Joshua

Prophet TB Joshua has denied the story by an online publication that he masterminded the freedom of Major Al-Mustapha by President Goodluck Jonathan who the publication allegedly bribe the Appeal Court justice, Justice Amina Augie to the tune of $2 million because of a prophesy by T B Joshua that Jonathan would not win the 2015 elections except he freed Al-Mustapha.

Femi Falana and Professor Chidi Odinkalu had also debunked the story by the gossip site as a pack of lies.

Below is the statement from T B Joshua;

COUNT ME OUT OF THE POLITICS OF HATRED

This is an official statement from Prophet T.B. Joshua. My attention has been drawn to an online article headlined ‘Pastor T.B. Joshua Revealed As Man Behind Al-Mustapha’s Release’ written by Sahara Reporters.

This article is from the enemy. They should not drag me into the issue of politics. If I was ever to go to Aso Rock, I would go publicly. I have already told you how I met Al-Mustapha. Don’t put words in my mouth. I explained that I got to know him many years ago when a petition was addressed to General Bamaiyi who was the then Chairman of the NDLEA. I spent nine days with them for investigation and they found the whole thing to be a fabrication.

From there, I was taken to see the president where I met Mustapha. I was able to reveal to them who I am by telling them what was to come as a prophet. I told him that he would spend several years in prison and would be finally released which no one else had ever told him. That is why you saw him coming here as his first port of call. Where there is no vision, people perish.

It is therefore very malicious for Sahara Reporters to attach any political meanings to Al-Mustapha’s visit. At no time did I tell President Jonathan that his political fortune rested with setting Al-Mustapha free, neither did I ever suggest that Chief James Ibori, former Delta State Governor be brought back to Nigeria to assist the president in the 2015 presidential election.

Count me out of the politics of hatred.

Patience Jonathan's mum is dead

The mother of the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience, Mrs. Iwarioba, popularly called Sisi, died yesterday in a road crash. The accident occurred at Elele in Rivers State. She was on her way to neighbouring Bayelsa State.
The accident happened around 4 pm, source said, adding that Mrs Iwarioba body was moved to Kpaima Mortuary on Elechi Beach, Mile One, Diobu, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, around 6 pm, by the self-acclaimed “Speaker” of Rivers House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, accompanied by many policemen.
Bipi, who represents Ogu/Bolo Constituency, is a former aide to the First Lady, who attended his marriage on June 15 at the St. Cyprian’s Anglican Church, Hospital Road, Port Harcourt, shortly after which she buried her grandfather at Okrika, during her 10-day visit to Rivers State.
Dame Patience, an indigene of Okrika, the headquarters of Okrika Local Government Area in Rivers State, who is in Geneva, Switzerland, according to sources who said she was immediately contacted expressed shock and she felt very bad over her mother’s death, according to a family source, who pleaded not to be named.
Details of the accident were sketchy last night, but a security man at the gate of the Kpaima Mortuary, who declined to give his name, said many armed policemen accompanied a body to the private facility, presuming that the deceased might be a prominent person.
The Rivers Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Dr. Kayode Olagunju, and the Rivers police spokesperson, Mrs. Angela Agabe, could not confirm the incident, stressing that they were yet to get the details from their officers and men at the scene of the accident.
A source said last night that the late Mrs Iwarioba was Mrs Jonathan’s stepmother, but this could not be immediately confirmed.

Information from The Nation newspaper was used in this report.

Arewa group threatens to retaliate attack on Northern Governors

The Arewa Rapid Response Network (ARRN) has threatened to retaliate the attack on four northern state governors at the Port Harcourt International Airport on Tuesday.

In a statement signed by the national coordinator of the ARRN, Mallam Yakubu Ahmed, the group warned the perpetrators against allowing the chain of events in Rivers to snowball into a national crisis capable of truncating the nation's democracy.

Governors Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano), Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and their host, Governor Rotimi Amaechi,  were said to be attacked by  supporters  of Minister of State, Mr. Nyesom Wike.

The statement reads: "It is clear to all that the Presidency is the chief instigator of the violence in Port Harcourt, which has almost made the state ungovernable. As things stand now, the crisis in Rivers Stats is threatening to engulf the nation owing to the risky dimension the problem is taking.

"While the crisis may look entirely as the business of the PDP, we must be careful not to stir up other chain of events that would snowball into an uncontrollable national crisis capable of leading to other unsavoury events that may truncate our nascent and vulnerable democracy.

"We recall that the election of the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum in which the candidate of the President was squarely defeated, as well as other unpalatable consequences that have rattled the Presidency, were at the base of the Rivers crisis.

"We hasten to caution that the dimension the crisis is taking in relation to the events that led to the pelting of four governors from the north who paid a solidarity visit to the their Rivers State counterpart would, if not well handled, lead to other events which result could not be guessed".

Continuing, the group said: "It is as if history meant nothing to the agent provocateurs of Rivers State, particularly the pro-Jonathan drum beaters of war who appeared irredeemably bent on having their way, regardless of the dangers their actions pose to the nation.

"The act of pelting northern leaders has in the past, proved to be dangerous to national cohesion and we must stress here that the action of some misguided youths in Port Harcourt against the four visiting northern governors has the potentials to be interpreted as a calculated attempt by the Jonathan presidency to humiliate our leaders.

"It also appears to be an attempt to kick start the beginning of a larger anti-north movement aimed at facilitating the disintegration of the country in the event that Jonathan loses his bid for another term.

"The north has received enough humiliation in the course of the Jonathan presidency with criminal war lords calling our leaders unprintable names, calling for war against the North, making very inflammatory statements and challenging the basis of our nationhood without any effort by the presidency to call them to order.

"We would like to warn that the North will not tolerate a situation where our leaders are made to face a gangster-like humiliation in the way it was done in Rivers State.

"We equally have many options including the option of retaliating and if anybody is in doubt, then Jonathan and his cohorts should be held responsible if a repeat of the Rivers show of shame leads to other unpalatable events that may follow".

Tinubu is a dictator - Presidency

The presidency has described The National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a dictator and impostor without respect for the tenets of democracy. The presidency was reacting to an earlier statement by Tinubu which blamed the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly on President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Ahmed Gulak enjoined Tinubu to first cast out the beam out of his own eye before attending to the crisis in the People’s Democratic Party.

He also accused Tinubu of imposing members of his immediate family on members of his political party (ACN) and Lagosians.

His words:

“We (The Presidency)have already said that Mr. President has no hand in what is happening in Rivers State. Tinubu should face the crises facing him, the issue of appointing his daughter as Iya Oloja of Lagos while she is not a trader or a market woman. These are issues that Nigerians should know. Tinubu should tell Nigerians why he has to replace Senator... with his wife as a senator.

These are people who are dictators; these are people who are breaching democracy and democratic principles. These are people who break the laws; these are people who are not transparent.

Tinubu is such a fraud. He should explain to Nigerians how his daughter was nominated or made Iya Oloja of Lagos while she is not a trader or a market woman

These are issues he should tell Nigerians and not to drag the name of Mr. President into the mud."  

Yobe students' killers will rot in hell - Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has noted that the killers of the students and teacher of Government Secondary School in Mamudo village, in Yobe State will burn in hell. The president described the action as barbaric and wicked.

He spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati. 
He said: “the killing is barbaric, completely wicked. Anybody who will target innocent children for any kind of grief of emotional dyfunction will certainly go to hell.”

Nigeria will not survive Jonathanians- El-Rufai

Former FCT minister and chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has declared that Nigeria will not survive Jonathanians- a reference to the administration of President
Goodluck Jonathan.
El- Rufai, one of the major critics of the Jonathan government, made the statement via his twitter handle, in response to a tweet by a follower.
The follower with the handle @bkmuhdc tweeted at El-Rufai that "Sir, I don't think that APC will survive". El-Rufai with his handle @elrufai responded, "Issoray...Nigeria will also not survive Jonathanians and
PDP...So what next?
This will not be the first time that the former PDP stalwart will hit out at the president and the PDP.
Please what is next for Nigeria and Nigerians as asked by the Accidental Public Servant?