President Jonathan's Economic Advisers Owing Nigeria N1.3 Trillion; CBN Bars Banks From Doing Business With 419 Deadbeat Companies And Individuals

Members of Jonathan's Economic management team

By SaharaReporters, New York

An explosive Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) circular published today by a local Nigerian newspaper lists some of President Goodluck Jonathan's economic advisers among the country’s worst deadbeat debtors.
Some of the worst offenders are household names: Mr. Femi Otedola, Alhaji Sayyu Dantata, Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, Prof. Bart Nnaji, Mrs Elizabeth Ebi and Dr. Wale Babalakin.
And businesses too: Zenon, Arik, MRS, Aero Contractors, Capital Oil and Gas, to list just five.
But now local banks are barred from extending even one more kobo of credit to them until they clear all debts.
The big debtors are also among the nation’s richest companies and individuals, and their extensive uncollateralized loans from Nigerian banks to the tune of billions of dollars led to the collapse of the banking sector.
Several of the debtors were also involved in the petroleum subsidy scam that bled the Nigerian economy of some $6.5 billion.
Instead of prosecuting the predatory lenders and borrowers the Jonathan government pushed the problem aside by setting up a bogus body known as the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to absorb the debts and enable the debtor roam free and engage in more economic crimes.
They apparently roamed far and wide, all 113 companies and 419 directors/shareholders.  419 is the actual number given by the CBN.  
The document circular obtained by Thisday, dated last Monday, September 17, showed that the disdain by these rich individuals and companies for their debts has grown so much that the CBN decided to bar banks in the country from extending further credit to them.
“It has become necessary to stop debtors who failed to repay their loans to banks and had these loans subsequently transferred to AMCON, from further enjoying credit facilities from Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) until they fully repay agreed outstandings to AMCON,” said the circular, which was signed by CBN’s Director of Banking Supervision, Mrs. A. O. Martins.
According to ThisDay:
•    The circular, which was accompanied by a detailed list of the blacklisted debtors, showed that worst hit by the directive are Zenon Petroleum, owned by Otedola, which was indebted to banks to the tune of N192.4 billion; MRS Holdings Limited, which belongs to Dantata  – N119.98 billion; Seawolf Limited – N98.32 billion; Arik Air Limited, belonging to Arumemi-Ikhide  – N85.481 billion; NITEL Plc/M-Tel  – N71.547 billion; and Capital Oil and Gas Limited, which belongs to Ifeanyi Ubah – N48.014 billion.
•    Others include Falcon Securities, whose Managing Director, Mr. Peter Ololo, was arraigned alongside several bank executives in 2009 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – N162.9 billion; Rockson Engineering Limited, owned by Arumemi-Ikhide – N60.475 billion; BGL Securities – N6.44 billion; Rahamaniyya Oil & Gas Limited – N46.38 billion; Bi-Courtney Limited – N20.214 billion; and Geometrics Engineering, owned by Nnaji – N19.76 billion.
•    The restriction also applies to: Aero Contractors Company, owned by the family of Olorogun Michael Ibru - N32.579 billion; Tinapa Business Resort – N18.509 billion; Nestoil Limited, belonging to oil and gas entrepreneur, Ernest Azudialu – N13.506 billion; Dorman Long Engineering – N9.667 billion; Ascott Offshore Nig. Ltd, belonging to former banker, Henry Imasekha and the Berkley Group – N64.728 billion; Gitto Constuzioni – N11.838 billion; and Dansa Foods – N14.880 billion, whose directors, Sani and Abdul Dangote, are the brothers of business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Furthermore, the banks have also been directed not to grant further credit to two States: Cross River and Zamfara, because of the failure of the Tinapa Business Resort and the Zamfara Accountant General to pay back loans collected.
The Central Bank warned that any bank that flouts the guidelines would be made to make an immediate provision of 100 per cent of total principal and interest outstanding in the account of the customer and related parties, in addition to whatever regulatory penalties the CBN may decide to impose, ThisDay said. 

Annan: Why we should grade countries on their elections

By Kofi Annan, Special to CNN Mexicans casting their ballots on July 1 to vote for the country's next president. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Kofi Annan: Democracy is a universal value and aspiration, unbound by region or culture Annan: For democracy to fulfill its potential, we must have fair and credible elections He says threats to democracies -- both old and new -- must be overcome Annan: We can grade countries on their elections and sound off alarms on electoral malpractice Editor's note: Kofi Annan is the chair of the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security. From 1997 to 2006, he served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. (CNN) -- Democracy is a universal value and aspiration, unbound by region, ethnicity, culture or religion. In the last two decades, it has spread across the world in unprecedented ways. Elections are fundamental to the ethos and principles of democracy. They provide citizens with a say in the decisions that affect them and governments with a legitimate authority to govern. When elections are credible, free and fair, they can help promote democracy, human rights and security. But when elections are fraudulent, as we have seen in a number of countries, they can trigger political instability and even violence. This means that for democracy to fulfill its potential as a means of peacefully resolving social and political conflict, the integrity of elections is crucial. Kofi Annan Threats to electoral integrity are not limited to poor, divided or war-torn countries. They can be found in every democracy. Many of the countries that embraced democracy in the last 20 years now struggle to entrench democratic governance. In some long-standing democracies, citizen trust and confidence in democratic institutions have dropped precipitously. Opinion: Politics by mob in China and Mideast Global recession and rising inequality are putting pressure on older democracies to show that they are relevant to their citizens' concerns. The infusion of money in politics, for example, threatens to hollow out democracy. And recent events in the Middle East and North Africa demonstrate that revolutionary transitions hold both opportunities and dangerous pitfalls. In response to these concerns, a group of former political leaders and leading figures have come together to create the report, "Deepening Democracy," which stresses the crucial importance of integrity in elections in advancing democracy, security and development. Elections with integrity by themselves will not build citizen trust in democracy. But they can be an important step in achieving the goal. Our report identifies five challenges for countries to overcome. First, the need to strengthen the rule of law so that elections and the rights of voters and candidates can be protected. Second, professional and independent national bodies should manage elections so that they are credible and the results are legitimate. I saw for myself in Kenya the catastrophic impact of the failure of the country's electoral commission to deliver these goals in the 2007 disputed presidential contest, when 1,300 people were killed and over 600,000 displaced in waves of unprecedented post-election violence. We must prevent this kind of tragedy from ever repeating. Third, greater efforts are needed to build the institutions, processes and behaviors that are vital for genuine multi-party competition and division of power. They would bestow legitimacy on the winner, provide security for the losers, and end the "winner-takes-all" politics that discourages democratic practice. Fourth, the integrity of elections requires political equality. The barriers that prevent voting and wider participation in political life must be removed. Too often, women, young people, minorities and other marginalized groups are not given a full opportunity to exercise their democratic rights. Finally, unregulated money in politics undermines voters' faith in elections and confidence in democracy. Vote buying and bribery of candidates, including by organized crime, have to be prevented in both aspiring and mature democracies. And we must tackle the explosive growth in campaign expenditures that is damaging confidence in electoral equality by strengthening fears that wealth buys political influence. These are all, of course, political challenges. But politicians cannot resolve them alone. Civil society and the media play their roles and have responsibilities as well. Opinion: What if U.S. stops policing the world? In addition, international funding ought to support democratic reform and electoral integrity rather than, as happened too often in the past, prop up authoritarian regimes. This entails increased efforts to prevent abuse throughout the political and electoral cycle and not just around a particular ballot. Our report provides a strategy on a global level. Governments need to regulate political donations and spending, and require full transparency and disclosure of donations with penalties for non-compliance. Organizations that manage elections in each country must come together to create international standards of professionalism, independence and competence against which they agree to be measured. A new transnational organization should be created to grade countries on their elections and to sound the alarm about electoral malpractice. The international community can then agree clearly on "red lines" of extreme electoral abuse, which would trigger condemnation and, if necessary, sanction. Such a program for delivering elections with integrity -- with its emphasis on inclusion, transparency and accountability -- can promote better governance, greater security and human development.

Chukwumerije May Lead Impeachment Move Against Jonathan

UCHENNA AWOM and CHIBUZO UKAIBE

Some prominent senators have warned that President Jonathan will be at the risk of impeachment if he continues to ignore resolutions passed by the National Assembly. Senator Uche Chukwumerije (PDP, Abia), apparently worried over the executive’s impunity, said: “The Ahmad Lawan report is the highest moral ground of the Seventh Senate so far.
It was that report that convinced everybody, the public, that the hope for this country lies with the Senate; that there’s still one body that’s concerned with the nation which lies far above sectionalism.
Chuwkumerije offered to lead the motion on the president’s impeachment if nothing is done to curb rising corruption in Nigeria, which he blamed on non-implementation of the National Assembly’s resolution prescribing punishment for indicted public officeholders.
He said, “The BPE report shows uninhibited siphoning of public funds through all sorts of subtleties into private pockets and private companies. We must pass a resolution calling on the attention of Mr. President to the main body of that report.
“As of two weeks ago, with Lawan and others I started collecting signatures that, if we could collect two-thirds or so, we are going to get it here -- a motion that gives marching order to Mr. President to do something about this report, or else…
“We are getting to that stage in this country. We cannot continue like this with the impunity in which they continue looting public funds and nobody is saying anything. When it comes to the stage of threatening impeachment, Uche Chukwumerije will do it and move a motion.
“The pattern in this country all along has been one siphoning of country funds through all sorts of legal subtleties to private pockets and private companies.
“And for the first time, there was a bold report that exposed the rot and we called for a reversal of this pattern...unfortunately, it is business as usual. It is, therefore, in the interest of this Senate that, in addition to what we are doing on this Act as we are doing now, we must pass a resolution calling the attention of Mr President to the main body of that report.”
The outburst was sequel to a bill for an act to amend the Public Enterprise (Privatization and Commercialization) yesterday, which was sponsored by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa. They all chorused that they were vexed by the constant non-implementations of its resolutions, adding that the actions amounted to bad governance.
Consequently, the Senate demanded that President Jonathan should implement its resolution on the probe of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, by immediately sacking the director-general, Ms. Bolanle Onagoruwa, who was indicted for gross misconduct in the sale of government enterprises.
Deputy Senate president Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the bill, urged President Jonathan to ignore claims by the minister of information, Mr. Labaran Maku, that National Assembly’s resolutions are mere advisory tools which can be implemented or ignored by the federal government without any consequences. Said he: “I do not think we need the minister of information -- indeed any minister -- to remind us that our resolutions are not binding, just as we do not need to remind him that he was not elected. So we know that our resolutions are not binding, but the decisions we take in this Senate, especially regarding the resolutions, are all well thought-out.
“They are borne out of patriotism, they are well researched and it is the amalgamation of the views of very responsible Nigerians. And, to that extent, it is very persuasive and anybody who is ignoring the resolutions of this Senate is doing it at the expense of good governance and we cannot encourage such a thing.
“We believe that this is an opportunity for Mr. President to go and look for the resolutions of the Senate regarding the BPE investigation. If there are very fat buttocks that are sitting on it, I think he should use his executive powers and push them out and get the report out and begin to implement them for the overall interest of this country.”
The chairman of the ad-hoc committee that conducted investigation into sale of government enterprises by the BPE, Senator Ahmed Lawan, in his contribution, urged Jonathan to implement all the recommendations.
He urged the president to ignore comments from Maku, adding that Senate resolutions are on critical issues which are meant to move the nation forward.
According to him, “It is time that the BPE resolution of the Senate that had been passed to Mr. President for his action is considered forthwith. Mr. President must ignore people like Labaran Maku who will always tell Nigerians, unfortunately, that the resolutions we passed are only advisory and have no weight and do not matter.
“While it is true that the resolutions of the National Assembly are advisory, members of the National Assembly passed a resolution that is so important, so critical to making Nigeria work; therefore I urge Mr. President to now take immediate action on the BPE resolution passed by this Senate.”
Leading the debate on the bill, Senator Okowa noted that the amendment would enhance security of public enterprises by allocating 5 per cent shareholdings to staff and host community of any privatised government enterprise.
He said: “The amendment provides for not less than 5 per cent of shares to be offered to Nigerians, to be reserved for the host communities of the public enterprises to be privatised, and also proposed not less than 5 per cent of such shares for sale to be reserved for the staff of the public enterprise.
“The import of this amendment is to enhance the security of the public enterprise as both the staff of the enterprise and the host community will buy into the process of the privatisation and would, as co-owners, protect such enterprise post-privatisation.”
Senators were in support of the bill. Many of them that spoke maintained that allocating 5 per cent share to the host community and staff of a privatised public enterprise would enhance the survival of the enterprise and boost the economy.
Senator James Manager, PDP, Delta, speaking in support of the bill said 5 per cent shares would give the host communities and staff a sense of belonging.
German hospital dispels first lady’s death rumour
Contrary to rumours that First lady Patience Jonathan had passed away yesterday in German Hospital where she is receiving medical attention, a reliable source confirmed to LEADERSHIP that  she is alive but in a critical condition.
The first lady has been in Horst Schmidt Klinik for over four weeks where she underwent a major operation to remove some poisonous substances from her intestines, following ruptured appendix.
Leadership

Shuttered Arik Air Accuses Aviation Minister Of Demanding 5% Share

Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah

By SaharaReporters, New York

Officials at Arik Air, whose domestic flight operations across Nigeria were grounded earlier today, have claimed that the carrier was forced out of business for refusing to part with 5% of its corporate shares as Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, demanded.
Today, the beleaguered airline circulated a text message accusing Ms. Oduah of vindictively fomenting crisis within the airline for denying her demand to receive a stake of 5% in Arik. The text message read, “Due to persistent hostility of the Ministry of Aviation, with a minister who is demanding a 5 percent equity in a business where she has no investment...and FAAN management, which has culminated in the use of FAAN staff to stop the airline operations and lock in checked-in passengers in Lagos this morning, Arik Air has suspended all domestic operations until further notice. This issue [borders] on personal interests and not payment of bills; since FAAN has been collecting.”
Speaking this evening to SaharaReporters, a senior official of Arik defended the airline’s account of the source of the company’s woes. “It is a pity that a minister can cause so many problems for an airline just because she did not have her way,” the official said.
Ms. Oduah is regarded as one of the closest ministers to President Goodluck Jonathan. In the 2011 general election, she served as treasurer for Mr. Jonathan’s campaign. The Arik source claimed that the minister pressured owners of the airline to hand her a 5% stake in the ownership of Arik, asserting that she was making the demand on behalf of President Jonathan.
The shady and crisis-prone airline is believed to be owned by interests who benefited massively from grand corruption during the administration of Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State and the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The source at Arik also accused the Aviation minister of instigating Arik workers to go on a strike that grounded the airline’s domestic operations today. The workers reportedly went on strike to pressure their employers to pay debts owed the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). “Is it not curious that workers at a private airline are going on strike to demand that their employer should pay debts owed to the federal government?” our source asked. He added, “That should tell you that something fishy is happening, and also who is behind the nonsense.”
Another source in the aviation industry said she agreed with Arik’s assertion that Ms. Oduah was behind the airline’s trouble. She told SaharaReporters that Ms. Oduah’s actions against Arik were related to the recent controversial decision to let Dana Airline resume flight operations after one of the airline’s planes crashed early June in a heavily populated area of Lagos, killing close to 170 people.
“We have received reports that minister received hundreds of millions of naira [in bribe] from Dana authorities to restore their license to operate,” said the source. She added that the Dana management was actually surprised by the urgency with which their airline’s license was restored. “You should bear in mind that Dana had not paid a quarter of the insurance payments to families of the casualties in the June 3rd crash of Dana Flight 992 in Lagos,” said our source, an aviation expert. She said it was eye-opening that the management of Dana issued a statement claiming that they had not bribed anyone to influence the restoration of their license.
The aviation source also recalled that the restoration of Dana's license coincided with a bizarre order by a federal high court judge effectively stopping a coroner inquest that was initiated by the Lagos State government at the prompting of Femi Falana, a human rights attorney.
The controversial court order arose from a suit filed in Lagos by a hitherto unknown group by the name of “Civil Aviation Round Table Initiative.” In a curious twist, the federal government took the same position as Dana in its response to the lawsuit. Shortly afterwards, the Jonathan administration restored Dana’s license as Ms. Oduah openly declared that the government had made a huge mistake in suspending the airline’s license in the first place.
Ms. Oduah is also believed to be the spirit behind a renewed effort by the federal government to create a national airline for Nigeria. The country has had a terrible record of maintaining a national carrier, with previous attempts hobbled by bureaucratic bottlenecks, financial mismanagement, and poor technical management.
 

N5000 Note: Don’t Disgrace Me, Jonathan Begs Mark, Tambuwal

By SaharaReporters, New York

At a meeting Tuesday night, President Goodluck Jonathan begged Senate President, David Mark, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, not to disgrace him over the controversial plan to introduce a denomination of 5000 naira.
A source in the Presidency and other sources close to Mr. Mark and Mr. Tambuwal told SaharaReporters that the president made the plea during a meeting with the legislative duo shortly after the two chambers of the legislature passed resolutions demanding that Mr. Jonathan rescind the authorization he gave to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Governor of Central Bank, to print N5,000 note.
The president reportedly granted the approval five months ago without the knowledge of lawmakers.
One of our sources said that the president felt that, should he retreat now, he would be perceived as weak and easily intimidated by members of the National Assembly and Nigerians opposed to the introduction of the naira denomination. The policy has been roundly criticized by many Nigerian groups, including labor activists, church leaders, and economists.
A source familiar with the meeting told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jonathan cajoled Mr. Mark and Mr. Tambuwal. “He kept saying to the Senate President and Speaker that he felt he was being dictated to. He kept saying that the National Assembly and some Nigerians were out to intimidate him. Then he looked at them [Mr. Mark and Mr. Tambuwal] and said, ‘Please, please, don’t disgrace me.’”
Mr. Jonathan specifically asked the legislative officials to ensure that the two chambers withdraw their motions on the issue.
A source close to Mr. Mark told SaharaReporters that the two legislators showed little sympathy to the president’s pleas. “They [Senate President and the Speaker] told President Jonathan that they were in a better position to tell him about the feelings of Nigerians towards the policy,” said the source.
He added that the legislators counseled Mr. Jonathan to abandon his support for the proposed currency denomination so as not to risk more battering to his image. “They told Mr. President to act without delay in putting a halt to the plan,” the source said.
 

Nigeria Shiite Muslims to protest anti-Islam video despite police order

The sect’s leader said the protests would go on despite police warnings. Defying a police order on marches against the recent anti-Islam video that sparked violent protests in many Islamic countries, members of the Nigerian Shiite sect, and the Islamic Mission of Nigeria, IMN, say they have concluded plans to hold a major but “peaceful protest,” very reliable Shiite sources told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday in Zaria and Abuja.
The peaceful protest, according to the sources, is expected to start by 9 a.m. on Thursday from the Gellesuwa residence of the Sect leader, who doubles as the president of the Islamic Mission of Nigeria, IMN, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky.
He will also lead the protest himself across all the streets of Zaria, which is the national headquarters of the sect.
Mr. El-Zakzaky, commenting Wednesday on the website of the IMN, said “our message to the stooges of America is that our protest shall surely take place. So, the blood thirsty stooges who serve American interest shall have the chance to kill. We are ready to die for the Prophet, and we want you to show that you are enemies of Prophet (SAWA) by killing his lovers.
“Our common slogan is Labbayka Rasulallah. This is the symbol of unity, so all Muslims shall express their concern with us. One is either with the Prophet or with the enemies,” he said.
He urged Muslims not to watch the movie which “production and dissemination … was another strategy to institutionalize and commemorate September 11 as a global phenomenon, and portray Islam as a religion of terrorists,” adding that the “clip mocks, insults, ridicules and portrays the Prophet, his wives, Muslims and religion of Islam negatively.”
It is unclear if other cities of the country will also host the protest, but Police Public Relations Officer, Frank Mbah, demurred from commenting, merely saying the matter has a peculiar security implication.
Mr. Mbah, however, suggested there was no permit for the march, insisting that the Inspector General of Police has “ordered a red alert against any violent protest.”
Mr. El-Zakzaky took time, in his web commentary, to berate the Jonathan administration which it describes as “an American stooge,” saying popular expectations in the country that Nigerian Muslims would have demonstrated last Friday were baseless because there was nothing mandatory about a Friday protest as was the case in many other Islamic countries.
“People thought that we would also come out to protest on Friday, but we did not. This is because we are in country led by American stooges who promotes its agenda, and even work for it” Mr. Zakzaky said.
In the wake of the violent protests against the film in many countries, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, placed all police formations in the country on red alert, and directed all his zonal assistants [AIGs] and commands to ensure a “24-hour water-tight security in and around all embassies and foreign missions in Nigeria as well as other vulnerable targets.”
Mr. Abubakar also charged the police Intelligence; the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Police Mobile Force (PMF) and Special Protection Unit (SPU) to ensure that their personnel are “strategically deployed to prevent and nib all potential crisis in the bud.”
PREMIUM TIMES sources insisted on Wednesday afternoon that the sect planned to continue its protest.
“We have concluded plans to hold the protest that will be led by Mallam Zakzaky along all major roads with thousands of Muslims including women and children to join other Muslim brothers all over the world to condemn in strong terms the recent anti-Islam film produced in America,” the source said.
This appears to challenge the IGP message that had warned “potential trouble makers to stay off the streets of Nigeria” because the nation’s “security agencies will bring to bear the full weight of the law on all law breakers.”
The Nigerian Shiite community, believed to have as many as 10 million members, according to Wikipedia, was a very vocal opposition during the military era which led it to frequent serious and bruising confrontations with the government of late General Sani Abacha who orchestrated a massive crackdown on its membership.
Its leader, Mr. El-Zakzaky, a 59-year old cleric and father of six, resides in Zaria where he was educated at the Ahmadu Bello University and earned a first class degree in economics in 1979.
DailyPost
 

Support for Jonathan, Sambo

President Goodluck Jonathan

A non-governmental organisation known as Re-build Nigeria Initiative has endorsed the candidature of President Goodluck Jonathan and his Vice, Namadi Sambo,  for the 2015 presidential elections, saying it is their constitutional right to go for second term.

The group noted that “Nigeria under the present administration had achieved peace and stability irrespective of efforts of those whose intentions were to destabilise the country.”

National Coordinator of the organisation, Hope Rex-Lawson, said: “For the peace of Nigeria and for our children, we must ensure that Jonathan continues in office in 2015 because he is a man  of great achievement.”

ThisDay