Obasanjo Told Us, ‘No Third Term, No Nigeria’.

N45bn raised for tenure extension lobby - Ex-President offered VP slot to Masari Former FCT Minister Nasir El-Rufai has alleged that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo badly wanted to extend his stay in office beyond 2007 such that he told his aides: "No third term, no Nigeria."
In his 627-page memoir titled The Accidental Public Servant, scheduled for public presentation on Thursday, El-Rufai also defended the dollar salaries paid two of his aides when he was minister of the Federal Capital Territory in 2003-2007. The former minister said when rumours of a third term plot began circulating in 2005, he confronted Obasanjo who responded thus: “Do you think I am looking for a job? I came out of prison, I was on my farm, I was begged to come and do this job. Now that we are about to finish this job, do you honestly think I would be looking for another job?”
He added: “I am looking forward to May 29, 2007, I will go back to my farm and that is it.” But, according to El-Rufai, as time went on he was convinced a third term plot existed and so he confronted Obasanjo again who now said “if the National Assembly wishes to amend the constitution it was not my business.”
El-Rufai said later in February 2006, in the gardens of the Presidential Villa, Obasanjo said to him, “No third term, no Nigeria,” a threat the president repeated to then-chairman of the EFCC, Malam Nuhu Ribadu. He said in May 2006 in the heat of the third term debacle, he along with three other cabinet members met Obasanjo’s chief of staff General Abdullahi Mohammed and asked him to lead them to confront the president and persuade him to drop the tenure elongation idea. But Mohammed told them the president had consistently denied to him of the existence of any such plot, and so there was no point leading them to him on that.
“I told the chief of staff that Obasanjo had admitted it to me and Nuhu (Ribadu) confirmed that he had had similar conversation in which the president even used the words, ‘No third term, no Nigeria’,” El-Rufai said. He also said the third term lobby team, funded by Lagos-based billionaires, raised more than $300 million (equivalent N45 billion) “by Nuhu Ribadu’s informed estimate.”
El-Rufai claimed to have worked behind the scenes to help defeat the third term project, by working with especially Senate President Ken Nnamani, Masari and Dr. Usman Bugaje, who was then a member of the House of Representatives. He said he feared that if Obasanjo lost the tenure elongation bid, he could turn into a “bull in a China shop” and may even consider declaring a state of emergency so as to remain in power. He said he told Buhari: “As national leaders you have a duty also to engage with him, and be talking to him, so that in case he does not get it, you would prevent him from becoming a bull in a China shop of the Nigerian state. He could destroy everything. He could endanger our democracy, he could make wrong choices or unleash vengeful policies that will negatively affect the people of Nigeria as his revenge on them for openly opposing his third term bid.”
He said Buhari agreed to re-establish communication with Obasanjo which had broken off since 2003. El-Rufai said after losing the third term gambit, Obasanjo picked Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan because they were weak and so would be servile to him. He said sometime in the run up to the 2007 elections, Obasanjo said to him: “The next four years - 2007 to 2011 - is just a transition period… Well, nothing will change. I will be in Ota but we will be running things. Everything will remain the same, you know, you will remain in the government, the economic team will remain. Nothing will change. Only I will move to Ota and Yar’Adua will be here but we will be running things.”
Naij

My Husband Uses My Money To Chase Other Men’s Wives - Nurse Stuns Court

He goes after anything in skirt, be it old enough to be his mother or she is of our child’s age. “I have become a laughing stock, even in the church. I made all efforts for him to stop this disgraceful act but he won’t listen.

“He collects money from me and uses the money to chase other men’s wives. I am tired. I don’t want the marriage anymore”. These were the lamentations of Mrs Comfort Oladepo. She spoke in her evidence-in-chief before an Orile Agege Grade ‘B’ Customary Court which she prayed to end her twenty five-year-old marriage to her husband, Kayode, who he accused of adultery, lack of care and drinking habit.

The 44-year-old nurse, who lives at 9, Shodipo Street, Papa Ashafa, Orile Agege, stunned the court when she said her husband not only refused to work for 20-years, but he also used her money to chase other men’s wives.

“My husband refused to work for 20 years; so I was the one feeding, paying house rent and clothing the family including my husband”, Comfort stated.

“He is so lazy. All he knows how to do is to drink to stupor, knocking married women’s doors at night and chasing single ladies in the neighbourhood.

“I established him, but he ruined the business because he was spending all the money on his concubines.

“As if that was not enough, he asked my friends and my young and older siblings out.

“I have endured for twenty years, I want to stay alone so that I don’t have a husband. He is useless. I see no reason I am still with him.”

Meanwhile, Kayode, 54, told the court that when he was working, he provided for his wife and children.

“I may not have money but I am caring. When one of our children was sick, I was with him for three months in hospital, doing all what his mother could not do”, the respondent said.

“I protect the family, take care of them while she brings home money.

“I still love my wife and I will always love her, I don’t want the dissolution”.

The court president, Mr Joseph Adewusi, adjourned the case till Feb. 13 for judgment.

 TalkOfNaija

I Am Not ‘Special’ – Enyeama

Super Eagles' goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, has played down talks about his record of never losing in any quarterfinal match at the AFCON he has appeared in.

Enyeama was in goal throughout as Nigeria's Super Eagles tripped pre-tournament favourites, the Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire, by 2-1 in Rustenburg in a quarterfinal game at the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday.
The 30-year-old goalkeeper when asked about his record of never losing in the quarterfinal of the Afcon he has taken part in his country’s squad said: "I don’t know how it happens as I’m not the 'Special One'. I can only thank God for all of the achievements as I don’t care about statistics."
The Maccabi Tel Aviv goalkeeper has been in goal throughout the 360 minutes of Nigeria’s participation at the ongoing AFCON in South Africa.
The former Enyimba custodian has made more than 70 appearances for Nigeria since his debut in 2002.
Enyeama is expected to continue in goal for Nigeria when they face Mali in the semifinals.
Naij

I Get N25,000 For Local Trips – Sanusi

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said he collects N25,000 per night for trips within Nigeria and fuels his personal cars with personal funds.

Responding to questions asked by Lagos Lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, concerning recurrent expenditures on the CBN governor and his office in view of the rising cost of governance, Sanusi also said he does not charge CBN or the Federal Government any fee outside his remuneration.

Early December, Sanusi, stirred the hornets’ nest when he suggested the reduction of the nation’s workforce by 50 per cent. Sanusi said a situation where the government spends over 70 percent of its annual budgets on recurrent expenditure at the expense of capital expenditure, mainly to service a few political office holders and public servants that account for about one million of the country’s 167 million population was unsustainable

Sanusi’s comments, which raised dusts in the polity especially from Organised Labour made Aturu to ask 14 questions pertaining to his remunerations on December 31 pursuant to the relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.

In the response dated January 16 and signed by S.M Onekutu (legal adviser/director, Legal Services), Sanusi, however did not disclose his total remuneration because it “is a subject of litigation” and it will be prejudicial. He also did not disclose how much he gets per night for foreign trips.

Reacting to the CBN governor’s response yesterday, Aturu said while he was not completely satisfied with the response, he would commend Sanusi “for not behaving like most public officials who would have simply ignored the request. We are of the view that the reaction of the bank to our request will encourage public institutions to conduct their affairs transparently.”

He continued: “We intend to do a follow up to the request as it appears that the Bank misunderstands some of the questions contained in the request. When we requested for the monthly remuneration of the Governor we were not asking him or the Bank to comment on an earlier decision which the Bank is contesting. We are aware of that decision”.

Also, we were aware that section 8 of the enabling Act of the Bank empowers the Board of the Bank to fix his remuneration and that it is the responsibility of the President to approve whatever the Board fix. Indeed we stated this fact in our request. The answer we expected was a specific figure not a comment on an existing case. We still expect the Governor to answer the question as he is in a position to know exactly what he earns and if he does not know he could have simply said so.

We are impressed that the Governor is entitled to only N25,000 as daily allowance when he travels within Nigeria. That is not excessive at all by Nigerian public officials’ standards and given his lofty position. However, it is a little troubling that while the Bank was willing to state the local daily allowance it refused to state what the Governor earns when he travels outside the country, saying that he receives what the Federal Government approves. We expect him to give a specific figure. The N25,000 he takes locally was also approved by the Federal Government. So why disclose one and not the other.

“We agree with the Bank that the time frame we gave, as required by law, was insufficient to calculate or sum up the amount spent on chartered flights within and outside Nigeria. To this end, we shall be doing a follow up and although we are required to give seven days, we promise the bank not to sue immediately until about 28 days after the follow up to give the bank added tome to add up the figures. Once again we commend the Governor of the Bank and the staff for weighing in on the side of probity, transparency and accountability.”

TalkOfNaija

“We cannot guarantee El-Rufai’s safety next time” – CAN

Press Statement - The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN has noted with serious concern the unrepentant and unremorseful conduct of the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in respect of the inflammatory and utterly disgraceful comment he made about the Christian faith and the person of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Inspite of our warning that he should stop such comments that carry chains of implications, El-Rufai has gone ahead to post another response which is insulting to the Christian faith.
Last Thursday, a day after our reaction to his damningly insulting comment, he retweeted as follows: “To those who see clearly, whose minds are not clouded by sheer religiosity, there is nothing insulting about the tweet”.

With this retweet, CAN believes that El-Rufai is set on a war path with the millions of Christians in Nigeria. We must state that unlike others, Christians do not shed blood, take life, kill or maim others at the slightest provocation. Nevertheless, we must warn El-Rufai not to take Christians for granted and to inform him that it is with great difficulty that we have had to restrain our youths from taking the law into their hands; which by extension means bringing El-Rufai to justice on account of his incitement and insult against the Christian faith. We may not be able to guarantee this restraint the next time he makes any other explosive statement that impugns on the Person of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is, again, warned to desist from playing this dangerous and deadly game of Russian roulette.
A word, they say, is enough for the wise.
Signed
Rev. Dr. Musa Asake,
General Secretary, National CAN
DailyPost

‘NEPA’ strikes during American Super Bowl (DETAILS)

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Super Bowl XLVII ground to a halt early in the third quarter Sunday night, when about half of the lights in the Superdome went out.

Lights in the New Orleans stadium’s upper tier went dark with the Baltimore Ravens leading the San Francisco 49ers 28-6, minutes after the Ravens’ Jacoby Jones ran back the kickoff that opened the second half a record 108 yards for a touchdown.
About 10 minutes later, an announcement inside the Superdome indicated that the lights would be restored “momentarily.” A short time later, lights began coming back on incrementally.
During the outage and the slow restoration of lights, players stayed on the field, talking to one another and stretching, waiting for play to resume. Spectators largely followed requests to remain in their seats.
Jeff Darlington, a reporter for the league-funded NFL Network, tweeted out a picture showing “the outside lights … completely out. Very, very eerie.”
A spokesman for Entergy, the utility that powers the Superdome and much of the area, said the problem was confined to the stadium itself.
“We are providing power to the dome,” said Entergy spokesman Philip Allison. “Power in (the rest of) New Orleans is fine.”
Play finally resumed at 8:10 p.m. (9:10 p.m. ET), about 34 minutes after the last play according to CBS, which broadcast the game.
The NFL subsequently issued a brief statement that acknowledged the problem but did not say what happened: “Stadium authorities are investigating the cause of the power outage.”
Superdome spokesman Eric Eagan, meanwhile, was even more succinct, saying, “We sincerely apologize for the incident.”
Whatever the reason, the restoration of the lights seemed to energize the 49ers.
In about 10 minutes on the play clock, the 49ers notched three scores — a 31-yard touchdown reception by Michael Crabtree, a 6-yard touchdown run by Frank Gore and a 34-yard field goal by David Akers — to tighten a once-daunting gap and make the score 28-23 at the end of the third quarter.
Twice in the fourth quarter, San Francisco had chances to pull even or go-ahead. The first was a 2-point conversion attempt that could have tied the score 31-31, but failed. Then, with about two minutes to go, the 49ers had four chances to score a go-ahead touchdown from inside the 10-yard line.
That didn’t happen either. And when the final whistle sounded, the Ravens were basking in the Superdome limelight — all of them, by then — after their 34-31 Super Bowl win.
YNaija.com

"Win The Cup For Us" - Humbled Drogba Meets With Super Eagles In The Dressing Room

After the disgraceful performance on the field, a humbled Drogba walked into the fitting room and told the Super Eagles - "Win the cup for us".

In this photo, he talks with his friend, Mikel Obi. Oh! How the mighty have fallen!
GistPlanet