EDO 2016 GOVERNORSHIP: PROGRESSIVE CONTINUITY OR RETROGRESSION?

By: Oteghe Adams
It seems that the Edo PDP governorship candidate Osagie Ize-Iyamu wants to destroy the lineage of logic in his desperate bid for power; Ize-Iyamu is corroding and insulting the intelligence of the Edo State electorate by engaging in retrograde history and prescribing poisonous potions of amnesia for some innocent voters in the 2016 governorship elections. The PDP candidate who claims to be running on the mantra of ‘’ experience’’ is simultaneously fleeing from his own history; he does not want to be judged on the chronicles of his (non) performance in the government of Lucky Igbinedion where he served in two major capacities. First as a Chief of Staff between 1999 – 2003 and later as the Secretary to the State Government between 2003 – 2007.Unfortunately, these years of service constitute the major basis of the’’ experience’’ that Ize-Iyamu is trumpeting in his campaign propaganda.

Indeed, Lucky Igbinedion directly referred to Ize-Iyamu as the ‘’ clearing house’’ of government while being sworn in as Secretary to State Government (SSG), other knowledgeable persons referred to Ize-Iyamu as the de facto governor in view of the almost permanent absence of Lucky Igbinedion from office. The indestructible narrative is that Ize-Iyamu was effectively the “captain in the engine room” of the (plundering) ship that was PDP’s government. Why then does Ize-Iyamu want the electorate of Edo State to down play this section of his curriculum vitae? , and if they do, his entire resume especially the ‘’experience’’ part, will be hauntingly empty. It must be recalled that under the ‘’captainship’’ and mastermind of Ize-Iyamu, the office of the then Deputy Governor Ogiadomen was rendered useless, Ogiadomen was reduced to laughing stock in the Government House. The infallible truth is that whenever the Governor travelled, the commissioners and big conspiring contractors were instructed to report directly to the diabolical “Capo’’. And so the control of some substantial resources and the shaping of the economic destiny of the people of Edo State were frequently under the control of Ize-Iyamu.

But the former ‘’Captain’’ now seem to be telling the people of Edo State that he was a mere errand boy in the kitchen beneath the luxurious ship’s deck. So scandalous it is that the PDP candidate has almost degenerated to the point of invoking the equivalent of the infamous Nuremburg War Crime plea by the Nazis: the hollow excuse of ‘I was only carrying out the orders of my superiors’, Edo electorate could not dare ask Ize-Iyamu questions when he wallowed in the tower of power. Now in this 2016 election, from the teachers to the civil servants and students who suffered undue hardships under Ize-Iyamu, this is the time for them to regain their voices. It’s time for the vegetating pensioners and all the citizens whose lives were traumatized by Ize-Iyamu to constitute a public jury at the campaign grounds and try the ‘’co-governor’’ for his economic crimes against the people of Edo land. I hope that Ize-Iyamu will show the same courage he had as SSG and step forward to render full account of his stewardship in the years under reference.

History must have consequence. There must come a time in the lives of individuals as well as communities when they must courageously confront some unchangeable truths as they construct dependable channels for their forward march in history. Oddly here in Edo State, Ize-Iyamu’s campaign is advocating a return to PDP failed years; the former SSG is trying to bully his way back to the Government House without adequate response to the several troubling questions still lingering from his previous years in power.

This issue is far beyond propaganda, it’s a matter centrally germane to the economic and political survival of Edo people. The two major candidates must submit themselves for intense scrutiny. Godwin Obaseki of APC has persuasively articulated the essence of progressive continuity: that the people of Edo State will see the consolidation and expansion in the gains established during Governor Oshionmhole’s tenure in essential spheres of the lives of the people - that the legacy of regular payment of salaries will continue, that the construction and maintenance of roads will remain a priority, that the welfare of teachers and building of schools will be accelerated and that the state-of-the art hospitals established by the Comrade-Governor will be well equipped and kept at international standards. In addition to all of these, the APC candidate has solidly pledged to make Edo a national pride in agro-industrialization and to stimulate the creation of 200,000 jobs within the first four years of his administration. This is the reality of the future that Edo people yearn for.

While the APC candidate stands proudly with Comrade Oshionmhole at rallies and other public places, Ize-Iyamu hardly mentions the name of the Governor under whom he served as Chief of Staff and SSG for an aggregate of eight years. The PDP candidate fails woefully to point to any concrete achievements while he held sway at the government house. Observers have listened and watched Ize-Iyamu at public lectures and rallies where he conducts reviews of the achievements of governors that preceded Lucky Igbinedion and those after, but he would “miraculously’’ skip the Lucky Igbinedion years. If there are records of some achievements of that period, why won’t Ize-Iyamu lay them out instead of engaging in diversionary campaigns. Edo people will not surrender to political skullduggery.

In the topography of Comrade Oshionmhole’s iconic achievements, we see the footprints of Godwin Obaseki following closely as the chairman of the State’s Economic Advisory team. In mournful contrast, to Oshionmhole’s inspiring landscape, we can still perceive dark smokes rising from the piles of burning files of Ize-Iyamu last days as SSG as he tried to conceal the crimes of their government , we hear the blood- cuddling cries of Edo grand mothers whose children’s career dreams were turned to nightmares under Ize-Iyamu era of mismanagement. Edo was plagued with the imageries of the biblical pestilence in the years of 1999 - 2007. “Pastor” Ize-Iyamu as a clergy must understand that a group of people who have crossed the “red sea’ ’will not wish to return to Egypt. The educated electorate of Edo State will not embrace a retrogressive paradigm; rather they will follow the lineage of logic and massively vote for progressive continuity as epitomized by the APC. The Edo electorate will send a clear message to the rest of the nation that Edo is not the political theatre for the glorification of impunity; the peoples’ verdict will be accordingly resounding

How Abba Kyari, Buhari’s Chief Of Staff, Abuses His Office For Personal Gain

SaharaReporters has obtained a letter which reveals how Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff (COS) to President Muhammadu Buhari, is using his office in the presidency to further his personal businesses and contradict his boss’s so-called anti-corruption initiative. The letter shows Mr. Kyari prospecting on behalf of Valiant Offshore Contractors Limited, a private business that is being fronted by the major owner of SeaWolf Oilfield Services Limited the single biggest debtor of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).

---

by SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK Aug 16, 2016

SaharaReporters has obtained a letter which reveals how Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff (COS) to President Muhammadu Buhari, is using his office in the presidency to further his personal businesses and contradict his boss’s so-called anti-corruption initiative.

The letter shows Mr. Kyari prospecting on behalf of Valiant Offshore Contractors Limited, a private business that is being fronted by the major owner of SeaWolf Oilfield Services Limited the single biggest debtor of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).
Seawolf Limited owes First Bank of Nigeria about N160billion, as a result of which two oil rigs owned by the company have since been seized by AMCON and parked at the Lagos Marina.
Nonetheless, COS Kyari went ahead to show his hand in refining the company as a Special Purpose vehicle to immediately commence business with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) where he is a board member.
Sources knowledgeable about the deal revealed that as a result, the COS has been piling enormous pressure on AMCON to give Seawolf a clean bill of health so that it can resume business as a drilling services company with the NNPC without meeting its debt obligation to AMCON.
Seawolf is owned by Nigerian businessmen Uwamu Adolor, Okulola Remi (who is close to former President Olusegun Obasanjo), Rasheed Mahey Rafindadi, Wessels Alwyn, Odunlami Remi, Waziri Ibrahim Dahiru and Oduntan  Adetunji.
But while Adolor took loans from banks and frittered them on automobiles using Seawolf, he also secretly formed a company known as Valiant Offshore Contractors Limited, a company that’s now being pushed by Mr. Kyari to get huge oil services contract from the NNPC.
In the letter obtained by SaharaReporters, it is revealed that the COS, in trying to pressure AMCON to sign off on Valiant’s worthiness to do business with the NNPC despite its terrible state of indebtedness, blames First Bank of Nigeria for giving out the loan to Seawolf.
AMCON has reportedly replied Mr. Kyari, saying Valiant could not be given a pass without paying off the debt it acquired through Seawolf.
Our source described the letter as a prime example of how Mr. Kyari has continuously abused his office to engage in corrupt activities and influence peddling right under the nose of the President.
In the past year, the COS has strategically expanded his role at the Presidential Villa, where President Buhari is known to delegate authority to his subordinates.  A presidency source told SaharaReporters that the COS considers himself the alternate President of Nigeria, in most cases jumping into and standing next to President Buhari in official photographs even at high profile events, in contravention of the general protocol.
Recently Mr. Kyari ordered government ministers to report to him rather than the President, contrary to the constitution.  The President, our source said, signs all memos brought to him by Mr. Kyari, without reading them.
Observers describe Mr. Kyari as one of the most evident contradictions in President Buhari’s anti-graft profile.  Two months ago, SaharaReporters revealed that he was playing a prominent role in blocking an investigation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) into a huge fraud by Sahara Energy.
Sources at the anti-graft agency later told SaharaReporters that officials of the government had placed a freeze order on information about the raids it had carried out on the company’s offices in Abuja and Lagos.
Our enquiries unveiled Mr. Kyari as an ally of Sahara Energy and the government official behind the efforts to muzzle that investigation.
Right after we published that story, it emerged that Mr. Kyari, in collaboration with the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS) and the influence-peddling newspaper publisher Nduka Obaigbena, were working to hound out of office the EFCC chairman Ibrahim Magu, with the objective of having him replaced with an official who would do their bidding at the agency.   The agency had tied Obaigbena to Dasukigate, and compelled him to refund hundreds of millions of naira.
Our sources said Mr. Kyari accused Magu of leaking the Sahara Energy story to this website.

Buhari Vs IBB: Finally the defining moment

    By Louis Odion, FNGE

"...I found out that some officers were spending money. I asked, 'Where did they get the money from?' They said it was from the Military Intelligence fund... Later, I learnt that General Aliyu Gusau who was in charge of intelligence took import licence from the Ministry of Commerce, which was in charge of supplies, and gave it to Alhaji Mai Deribe. It was worth N100,000, a lot of money then. When I discovered this, I confronted them and took the case (to) the army council... I said if I didn't punish Aliyu Gusau, it will create a problem for us... So I said General Aliyu Gusau had to go. He was the chief of intelligence. That was why Babangida got some officers to remove me."

With the foregoing account, President Muhammadu Buhari has sensationally reopened a deep wound the nation has nursed for the past 31 years. In disrobing the Daura-born general in the palace coup of August 27, 1985, his failings listed by erstwhile comrades included arrogance, inflexibility and emptiness.
In the December 2015 edition of The Interview magazine, General Ibrahim Babangida had dismissed the notion that there was an ulterior motive other than the catalogue of transgressions read by Brigadier Nimyel Dogonyaro in the dawn broadcast announcing Buhari's ouster.
Asked if the coup was prompted by the fear of imminent censure by the Buhari administration, Babangida stated: "Do not forget that I was one of Buhari's closest aides. I was the Chief of Army Staff. So I had an important position, an important role to play within that administration. I don't think it had to do with a memo."
But in the conversation published in the current edition of wave-making The Interview, not only did the president dismiss IBB's theory as false, he laid bare the acute moral bankruptcy of those who brought his reign as military head of state to an abrupt end. According to him, the desperation of a few tainted generals to evade justice, rather than national interest, inspired the regime change then. And in what could perhaps be described the most pointed challenge in recent history, he dared Babangida and Gusau to controvert him: "Let him (General Babangida) repeat his own story. Aliyu Gusau is still alive."
Buhari's revelation only adds to the existing and by far more salacious myth of Gloria Okon often whispered in informal public chat. Back then, the media had reported the arrest of one Ms. Gloria Okon while allegedly trying to smuggle hard drugs out of the country at a time the no-nonsense Buhari regime had imposed capital punishment on such. In fact, same law had already been invoked retroactively to publicly execute some Nigerians for attempting to smuggle heroine.
So, naturally, there were fears that Okon would be next on the death-row. Then, a twist. The rest of the suspenseful drama is already meticulously captured in a documentation by the nation's leading legal historian and consistent human rights crusader, Richard Akinnola. It turned out that the suspect was reportedly only a courier for a powerful figure in the sitting military administration.
Soon afterward, the nation was told the suspect had suddenly dropped dead in custody! But in reality, the real Gloria Okon was said to have been smuggled out in a high-stake conspiracy while the corpse of someone's else was presented as hers. The then commander-in-chief smelt a rat and set up a panel to unravel the mystery. It happened that before the panel could submit its report, power had changed hands at Dodan Barracks! End of inquiry. A year or two later, the real Okon was reportedly sighted at a high-society soirée in London, attended by the glamorous spouse of a key figure in the government of the day!
Another account, though unsubstantiated, states that it was the general who arranged the escape from custody of the real Gloria Okon who later found himself ironically being implicated in a subsequent coup plot and was eventually executed alongside other convicted co-conspirators. A further twist was brought to the narrative with the claim that it was in an attempt by a Lagos-based news magazine to piece all these dark happenings together into a thriller cover-story that eventuated in its chief editor being bombed to death one Sunday morning in Lagos. This October marks the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of star journalist Dele Giwa.
While circumstantial evidence may weigh heavily in public opinion, it is less admissible in the court of law. So, for now, in the absence of cogent proof, the Gloria Okon story will, at best, still be entertained as merely speculative, if not entirely fictitious.
But with Buhari's weighty salvo in The Interview, IBB, undeniably a key player in the nation's political history in the past four decades, has undoubtedly now been put on the spot, from where there seems no easy escape. Silence is sometimes romanticized as golden. But not in the present circumstance. How the self-styled military president explains the weighty charge may now effectively define his place in history as either an unacknowledged saint or the ultimate patriarch of grand larceny.
Well, there is no doubt about Buhari's motive for revealing a dark secret. Time is said to be the greatest healer. But it is obvious Buhari will carry the bitterness of 1985 to his grave. Attempts by some do-gooders to reconcile them over the years have only achieved cosmetic results. Deep down in Buhari's heart is the hurt from the pain of losing power and the trauma of his subsequent ordeal in custody. For instance, when Buhari lost his mother, IBB refused to allow him one last opportunity, even if on compassionate grounds, to see her remains before burial. Just as another account says that the "irreconcilable differences" that led to the collapse of his first marriage to Safinatu arose from how she chose to comport herself around his traducers while he was languishing in solitary detention in Benin.
Tellingly, Sambo Dasuki currently at the centre of $15b arms fund scam was part of the team that physically seized Buhari from his residence on August 27, 1985 and would end up as one of the influential "IBB boys" who wielded enormous power between 1985 and 1993.
But any allusion to Buhari's ancient malice will hardly provide any back-door for IBB to escape scrutiny here. For at issue is the question of public morality. Could it be possible that the nation was deceived and taken for a ride then with the quest to protect the illicit transaction of a few greedy generals falsely presented so seductively as a patriotic intervention to defend national interest?
From Buhari's sketch of Gusau, the caricature that emerges is that of a buccaneer, a profiteer ready to barter public trust away for material gain. It gets more disturbing considering that he is easily regarded today as the most influential player in the nation's intelligence community in the last three decades during which he was recycled as national security adviser by successive administrations.
It is open secret that the Zamfara-born general directed single-handed the drafting of Olusegun Obasanjo by the military establishment to becoming the president-elect in 1999 on PDP's platform. Going by this damning testimonial of his one-time boss, how are we now to believe the stated value deficit did not also corrode all Gusau's later engagements in public office? Worse still, here is a man who could have ended up as elected civilian president in 2007 and 2011 having put up a strong bid in the PDP primaries.
Taken together, in case IBB prefers to shy away from Buhari's categorical claim that graft was at the bottom of his overthrow in 1985, the Minna-born general risks having his reputation further cemented in infamy as one who formally inaugurated sleaze as the cornerstone of governance in the nation's history. If corruption has now morphed into a humongous industry today, some historians have always identified the man fondly called Maradona as the one who provided the seed capital decades ago.
Such reading is based on empirical proofs. His rise in 1985 is seen as signposting not just the shift in the character of national politics, but values as well. As months rolled by, every thing the nation had held high was cheapened. No measure was considered too extreme nor institution too sacred in the ensuing orgy of contamination. Even in music, vulgarity became the new lyrics as fast-tempo beat gradually displaced meditative sound of old that placed more emphasis on philosophical messages.
In social space, the culture of "settlement" supplanted the tradition of due process. Ostentation replaced modesty.
In the academia, violent cultism soon overshadowed the chivalrous exuberance of what used to be known as student confraternity as might became valorized over right. Outside, philistinism flourished as some palace intellectuals formed a cult around the crafty general who seemed to prefer the ill-fitting apparel of a philosopher-king. Just as the state clamped  down on "undue radicals" in the varsity classrooms intent on "teaching what they are not paid to teach."
At a personal level, IBB was quick at prefacing any commitment in the public with the chant of "Insha Allah", but his deed later often reflected a willful betrayal of that solemn invocation. He was never in short supply of great fanciful ideas. But lacking personal disciple, whatever he planted with the right hand was soon subverted with the left as cronies were issued blank cheques to plunder such undertakings.
By the account of now late Pius Okigbo, foremost economist, a staggering $12.8b of the 1990/91 oil windfall could not be accounted for under IBB.
Where the cultural damage inflicted on the nation is perhaps most deep and enduring is politics. In a fevered bid to clone a new generation of actors in his own grotesque image with little or no ethical grounding, the national landscape was soon besieged by monstrous creatures. An affliction that has in turn haunted the nation till date as it became fashionable to play politics without principle, with parties seen merely as a make-shift vehicle to capture without fidelity to any ideology.
As the genetic re-engineering continued in Babangida's derelict lab, the test-tube babies that mutated were laughably christened "new-breed politicians" to be engaged in what at the time became the longest-running transition programme in modern history, guzzling estimated colossal N40b (when naira was still strong) by the time it finally unravelled in the June 12 crisis of 1993.
Actors in Babangida's political roulette were banned, unbanned and re-banned in a manner that defied logic nor accord respect to human dignity.
But, as events later revealed, behind all the chicanery of eight years was Babangida's incestuous desire to parlay the entire transition programme to his own coronation as civilian president. By the time he was forced to surrender power in August 1993, Babangida left the nation in the cusp of chaos.
In summary, IBB's eight reign set the nation on a ruinous course from which she is yet to recover. A cardinal sin for which he is yet to atone, let alone show any remorse.

*Kenwood Dogara: The shame of a nation*
Following report that a member of parliament (MP) had defrauded British taxpayers of a "modest" £20,000 some years ago, hell was literally let loose in the United Kingdom. It was not until David Chaytor had been sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2011 after a speedy trial that the media and watchdog groups finally relented.
Chaytor, who represented Bury North, was convicted at Southwark Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to three charges on false accounting of over £20,000 (less than N9m today). He could have earned a maximum 7 years had he not taken the wise option of owning up and pleading guilty.
He had pilfered the money by claiming rent for his own flat in London and rent for a house in Bury owned by his mother. He falsely produced a tenancy agreement which said he was paying £1,175 as monthly rent.
Now, the Nigerian media has been awash in the past few days with reports of an alleged monumental scam involving the leadership of the House of Reps and hundreds of billions of taxpayers' money and business seems to be continuing as usual at the lower legislative chamber with the rest of the country watching with amusement, rather than outrage.
Last week, a falling out between principal officers of the House led to the "resignation" of Abdulmumin Jibrin as the chairman of the Appropriation Committee. An embittered Jibrin chose not to exit without opening the Pandora Box. He pointedly accused the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, of offering a rogue leadership alongside three other principal officers namely Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, Whip Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leo Ogor.
Specifically, he accused the Speaker of greedily cornering to himself and three principal officers a whopping N40b out of the N100b earmarked for Constituency projects in the 2016 budget.
The original 2016 appropriation bill brought by the presidency had allocated N60b for constituency projects. Jibrin claims to have documentary evidence where the Speaker directed a topping up of N40b and re-ordering the allocation formula in the same manner a typical butcher would, by the swish of the knife, divide the meat on the slaughter slab.
He did not stop there. He also accused the Speaker of a slew of other financial malfeasance and corporate extortions too lurid to be restated here.
Expectedly, the accused have counter-punched, accusing Jibrin of not only being the culprit of the last padding scandal that delayed the passage of the 2016 budget months back but also complicit in past illegal injection of extraneous provisions into the appropriation bills submitted by the executive arm of government.
At this writing, the orgy of accusations and counter-accusations had degenerated to a point where Jibrin alleged threat to his life while the Speaker on the other hand demanded that the "libelous" statement against him be retracted.
Overall, serious issues have inadvertently been raised by the throwing of mud at the House in the past week. The litany of claims and counter-claims put a big question mark on the moral integrity of the House leadership as presently constituted under Dogara. It speaks directly to the culture of greed, shamelessness, cant and profanity now mistaken for legislature in Nigeria.
Rather than issue ultimatum for Jibrin to withdraw his statement, the least one therefore expects of Dogara and others accused is to step aside, even if temporarily, to allow an independent investigation of the matter. The allegations are far too weighty for the Speaker to continue to sit pretty and pretend all is well. What is involved is people's money running into hundreds of billion.
Perhaps, the latest incident will afford us the opportunity to interrogate the essence and sustainability of the so-called "constituency projects". Often than not, it is a euphemism for the head where the pecuniary interests of members are satiated. Those who conceived the idea in a democracy may have meant well. But the operation in our own environment is quite problematic.
The lawmakers would rather they be allowed to personally draw down the vote to "execute" a project of their own choosing or be allowed to nominate the contractors. So, the question is: how wholesome is such arrangement? Ideally, the business of legislature is to make laws, not executing contracts. At best, legislators can perform oversight during the execution of such. To think otherwise is to create room for corrupt practices.
When such "projects" are executed at all, the standard practice among the legislators is to privatize same. Usually, a giant bill-board bearing the life-size image of the respective lawmaker will be hoisted there giving the false impression that it is a personal donation from the representative to the constituency.
Time has come to sanitize the idea.

TEXT OF A PRESS BRIEFING BY MR. JEFFERY IGBINIGIE, DG #YesTo Better Edo#

Distinguished Gentlemen of the Press,

The APC 2016 Governorship Campaign tour of local government are on going followed by massive rallies.

It is worth noting here, that the APC Governorship Candidate in Edo State  Dr, Godwin Obaseki has used the days of intensive campaigns to unveil his blueprint of job growth, industrialization, human capacity development- all anchored on the plank of sustainable development, and those hopeful and lofty messages resonated across the state as witnessed by the massive and mammoth crowd of supporters that showed up at campaign stops.

The Obaseki /Shaibu  2016 Governorship campaigns was flagged-off with a humongous rally at Benin  where Dr.Godwin Obaseki assured his teeming supporters that he will turn the state into an economic hub through an aggressive industrialization and agricultural revolution programs once elected into office.

Addressing a mammoth crowd at Benin , he told them that his vision for the State was to consolidate the gains brought about by Governor  Adams  Oshiomhole infrastructural renaissance and to open up the state to the world through industrialization and job growth.

Gentlemen, at this point I wish to state that the tremendous show of support has been made possible by the message of hope that the APC  Candidate, Dr. Godwin Obaseki has been preaching allover the state- a message of wealth creation, Jobs for our teeming youths, industrialization, human capacity development, and agricultural renaissance among others.

He has promised to ensure job creation through the creation of a vibrant industrial atmosphere that will boost entrepreneurship and human capital development. He added that his administration will also focus on the overall well-being of a common man by providing employment and empowerment for all.

Obaseki at every turn has thanked the people of the State for their massive show of support to his aspiration and extended an olive branch to other aspirants of the APC  in the Governorship race to come back home and join in the task of building the State, emphasizing that sustainable development can best be driven by peace, unity and harmony.

In their separate messages at the various campaigns rallies, different notable chieftains and party elders have consistently described  Godwin Obaseki as a product of thorough research and divinity with proven intellectual capacity to take the state to the next level and pledged their total support to ensure that he is elected the next governor of our state.

The Edo South People have disclosed that they have no other governorship candidate to support other than Dr. Godwin Obaseki , and appreciated the leadership of the APC in the state, Governor  Oshionmhole , the State Caucus of the party, State Working Committee, and stakeholders in the state on their decision to zone the governorship seat to the Senatorial district, and they promised that Obaseki,  their son will not disappoint the state.

In summary, all the stakeholders and political stalwarts and elders who spoke at rallies have constantly described Obaseki as the right man imbued with the needed capacity, credentials and character that will sustain the current tempo of transformation witnessed in the state, pointing out that the time has come for industrialization of the entire state, and solicited support from all to enable the governorship hopeful actualize his blueprint for the state.Most of the endorsements and support enjoyed currently by Dr. Godwin  Obaseki  and the  APC ahead of the general elections have been based on his track record of achievements in both private and public sectors, and his blueprint and governance platform which the people believed in.

The State Governor Comrade  Adams  Oshiomhole  has remained a great teacher and leader in the State, has repeatedly pointed out that his decision to support Godwin Obaseki as the next governor of the State was borne out of his desire to leave the sustenance of the legacies brought about by his government, in capable hands.

But the greatest support the team has so far enjoyed has been from the respectable royal fathers in each local government areas, who have respectively granted Dr, Obaseki  their blessings with intense prayers for his ambition. The same can also be said of the various socio-cultural groups, and political organizations who on their own have been drumming support for the APC Governorship candidate and the APC  at large.

We commend all of you gentlemen of the Press for your selfless efforts in propagating the activities of the campaigns in your respective tabloids, print and social channels and we are sure that your belief in the  Obaseki /Shaibu  2016, project convinced you to carry out these gestures. To ensure that the memories of the events are effectively shared, we engaged in the live streaming of most of the rallies via the social media while others where beamed live on the terrestrial television and the cable TV. It could be seen then that Obaseki /Shaibu  2016 Campaign has maintained an issue-based campaign that clearly highlights his vision to take the state to the next level, and had eschewed all forms of  chicanery or character assassination and we will love to use this opportunity to advice other political parties to embrace peace and avoid actions capable of igniting ethnic or political tension in the state.

We hereby use this opportunity to most especially thank the Edo  people for their momentous support and solidarity with the  APC in the State under the leadership of His Excellency the Governor, Comrade  Adams  Oshiomhole . This support can be seen in the light of the recent spate of endorsements, and solidarity carnivals by different sections of the Edo society. They include 15 Transport union and affiliate groups that assembled under the aegis of Edo Transporters, to adopt Dr, Godwin Obaseki, as their candidate. Following suit, were the traders in the major markets in the state that voluntarily came together to endorse Dr .Godwin Obaseki and the APC  as their preferred choice during the general elections. Previously, petty Businessmen, the Amalgamation of Labour Movements in the State among others had thrown their full weight behind the APC governorship hopeful.

Is Trump a Russian agent? Top Kremlinologist presents a tantalising and disturbing dossier on why the presidential hopeful could have closer links to the Kremlin than it may appear

By Edward Lucas for the Daily Mail

He has been accused of being everything from a racist to a misogynist in recent months as his bid for the White House has gained support across the U.S., but one question could yet prove more damning: is Donald Trump a Russian agent?

While the answer may be no, he is certainly what the original Soviet leader Lenin called a ‘useful idiot’ — referring to those in the West who ignored mass murder and chose to support the great Communist project.

That is the conclusion of the world’s most seasoned Kremlin-watchers as they assess the extraordinary antics of the Republican nominee, and the questionable background of his advisers.

Mr Trump has, by his own admission, deep business connections with Russia. 

+5

Could Donald Trump, pictured, be a Russian agent? Not likely, but he is what Lenin would have called a 'useful idiot'

His carefree ways with other people’s money — including numerous near-bankruptcies in past decades — mean that American banks shun him. 

Yet his debts have grown over the past year, from £270 million to £485 million; which suggests he may have borrowed heavily. 

His cash assets, meanwhile, have shrivelled. So where is the money coming from?

The short answer is Russia.

As the leading American newspaper, the Washington Post, reported: ‘Since the 1980s, Trump and his family members have made numerous trips to Moscow in search of business opportunities, and they have relied on Russian investors to buy their properties around the world.’

Trump’s son, Donald Jnr, boasted to a property industry conference in 2008: ‘Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.’

In the same speech, he said that he had visited Russia six times in the previous 18 months. 

Russians helped to finance his construction projects in Toronto and, most controversially, the Trump SoHo condominium development in Manhattan. 

As often seems to happen with Trump’s business ventures, investors in this project lost out; Trump had exaggerated the level of customer interest and ended up going to court.

Unusually, he settled that lawsuit, refunding most of the money in question, while continuing to deny wrongdoing.

However, court documents revealed some curious features of Trump-style business practices: mysterious infusions of cash from Russians who were ‘in favour with’ Vladimir Putin; and the involvement of two Russians with highly questionable backgrounds, including criminal convictions and other brushes with the law.

+5

Court documents have previously revealed Trump has had 'mysterious infusions of cash from Russians in favour of Vladimir Putin' (pictured) 

Trump’s partner in the Manhattan property venture was a company called Bayrock Group. 

Its chairman was Tevfik Arif, a well-connected official back in the Soviet days, who was allowed by the Communist leaders to travel abroad, at a time when that was a privilege afforded only to senior KGB and Party officials.

The Bayrock executive in charge of co-operation with Trump was also from the Soviet Union. 

Felix Sater had a criminal conviction for assault (using a broken margarita glass in a bar-room bust-up). 

He had also worked in a stockbrokers’ firm which prosecutors later linked with four prominent mafia families and a $40 million fraud.

A disgruntled investor in an abortive Trump project in Phoenix, Arizona, claimed in a lawsuit that Mr Sater made threats against the investor which included electric shock to his testicles and amputation of a leg, followed by murder.

Mr Sater and Mr Arif deny all wrongdoing. Trump and his spokesman, meanwhile, deny that his business relationships with the men were substantial or sustained.

The fact is that questionable associations, later denied, are a regular feature of Donald Trump’s business history.

As the New York Times reported, his career has benefited from ‘a decades-long and largely successful effort to limit and deflect law enforcement investigations into his dealings with top mobsters, organised crime associates, corrupt union leaders, con artists and even a one-time drug trafficker whom Trump retained as the head of his personal helicopter service’.

But it is the Presidential candidate’s Kremlin connections which, to my mind, should attract the greatest scrutiny because they go well beyond the world of bricks and mortar.

The farcical beginning of his fascination with Russia came in 1988, when Mikhail Gorbachev, the then Soviet leader, was visiting New York.

Trump was eager for the Russian statesman to visit his Manhattan skyscraper, Trump Tower, and spread a rumour that this would be part of the official programme.

Although this was untrue, to Trump’s delight, a gleaming black limousine with outriders did stop outside the building (supposedly an impromptu halt at the request of its famous passenger). 

A video shows Trump ecstatically bowing and scraping to welcome his honoured guest but the the blotchy-headed, besuited figure that emerged from the car was not the Soviet leader but an impersonator called Ronald Knapp — Trump had been victim to a practical joke.

+5

The Republican Presidential nominee has pursued a range of business interests in Russia

Undaunted, he pursued a range of business interests in Russia, registering his name as a trademark in Moscow, and even licensing it to a distiller which launched a brand called Trump Super Premium Vodka.

In 2013, he brought the Miss Universe contest to Moscow; the first time it had taken place in Russia. 

Vladimir Putin was invited and he sent a gift and a message of congratulation.

According to Aras Agalarov, a Russian property mogul who was the go-between for Trump and the Kremlin, Trump also signed a deal (on the fifth attempt) to build a Trump Tower in the Russian capital. 

Like many of the billionaire’s much-talked-about projects, it remains unbuilt. It is unclear if the tycoon and the tyrant have actually met. 

In 2014, Trump claimed he ‘spoke, indirectly and directly, with President Putin, who could not have been nicer’. 

Yet he has also denied having ever had any personal contact with the Russian leader.

Until recently, any suggestion that the garrulous Trump would become a presidential candidate, let alone a nominee inching closer to the Oval Office, would have been dismissed as the ravings of a madman.

Yet it is entirely conceivable that Russia’s wily spymasters would see the potential value of gaining influence with an American household name; even one best known for reality TV shows like Celebrity Apprentice.

Trump, say former intelligence officials, is just the sort of ‘asset’ the Kremlin’s spy services would cultivate.

As his utterances show all too clearly, he has a colossal ego, responds with childlike eagerness to flattery, is massively overconfident in his own abilities, with an almost pathological unwillingness to admit to mistakes.

This is not the fevered or paranoid speculation of a Hollywood scriptwriter trying to imagine a sequel to the classic thriller The Manchurian Candidate (in which Soviet brainwashing is used to turn an American into a zombie-like assassin); none other than former CIA boss Michael Morell said that he had ‘no doubt’ Putin viewed Trump as an ‘unwitting agent’.

Trump’s tax returns could dispel suspicions that he is in hock to Kremlin-friendly gangsters and money-launderers but, in a scandalous breach of normal political practice, he refuses to publish them. 

His flimsy, widely ridiculed excuse is that they are still being audited.

It is not simply that Trump is friendly to Russia, he is also bitterly critical of American leaders. 

+5

He is also 'bitterly cynical' of American leaders including President Barack Obama, pictured, whom he claims was 'born in Kenya'

This week he said that President Obama was a ‘founder’ of the terror group Islamic State and has also repeated the ridiculous assertion (widely shared among American conservatives) that the President was born in Kenya, not, as official records show, in Hawaii.

If true, that would mean that Obama was not a ‘natural-born citizen’ as required by the Constitution, and therefore ineligible to serve as the nation’s leader.

For years, Russia has cultivated connections in Washington in the hope of gaining political knowledge and leverage. 

The Russian government and Kremlin-friendly bodies hire lobbyists, donate money to think tanks, and promote politically influential commercial ties.

Russian spies have also broken into computers related to the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton four times, stealing a trove of documents that cast an unflattering light on the party’s internal machinations. 

They have also gained access to the emails of Mrs Clinton (Trump’s rival for the White House) which were stored with amazing recklessness on a personal computer when she was Secretary of State. 

Those emails can be drip-fed to the media in the run-up to polling day in November.

The duplicity and mischief they will undoubtedly reveal could capsize Mrs Clinton’s already-troubled campaign and hand the Presidency to Trump.

Another damning factor in Trump’s relations with Russia is the composition of his inner circle. 

Paul Manafort, his election campaign chairman, has benefited from multi-million-dollar business deals with pro-Russian oligarchs.

He was a close adviser to Viktor Yanukovych, the disgraced Ukrainian president who was toppled in 2014. 

Yanukovych, who has been dogged by a criminal record and accusations of links to organised crime, is accused in Ukraine of having been in league with Putin.

A popular uprising eventually ousted him from power and his flight to Russia two years ago was quickly followed by the Kremlin’s military onslaught on Ukraine, and the seizure of Crimea.

Mr Manafort clearly saw nothing wrong in devoting the best part of a decade to polishing the image of Yanukovych, a man reviled by his own people, and most Western countries, as a Kremlin stooge.

Even more startling is the behaviour of one of America’s top spymasters, General Michael Flynn, who now advises Donald Trump.

A former head of the Pentagon’s in-house intelligence service, the Defence Intelligence Agency, the wiry, crop-haired spy chief stunned his former colleagues by visiting Moscow in December 2015, where he sat close to Mr Putin at a dinner celebrating the work of RT, the Kremlin’s main foreign propaganda network.

Another foreign policy adviser in the Trump campaign is Carter Page, who has spent much of his career in Russia, where he served a long stint advising Russia’s national gas company, Gazprom.

Gazprom is no ordinary energy firm, but a highly politicised branch of Kremlin foreign policy, which uses the awarding of lucrative contracts to reward Russia’s allies, while penalising its foes by cutting energy supplies.

Significantly, Mr Page’s take on foreign policy chimes neatly with the Kremlin’s stance. 

He justifies Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine, dismissing that country’s pro-democracy revolution and pro-Western leadership.

He has decried America’s ‘often hypocritical focus on democratisation, inequality, corruption and [overseas] regime change’.

In an astonishingly offensive comparison, he even likened the Obama administration’s treatment of Russia with slavery.

But the biggest cheerleader for Russia, however, remains Donald Trump himself.

+5

Trump has previously praised Putin for 'rebuilding Russia' but recently claimed he had 'no relationship with him'

When Mr Putin wrote an article lambasting America’s role as the world’s policeman, Trump called it a ‘masterpiece’. 

In 2007, he praised Putin for ‘rebuilding Russia’.

A year later he added, in a reference to the then President: ‘He does his work well; much better than our [President George W.] Bush.’

Despite abundant evidence to the contrary, Trump denies that the Kremlin assassinates its critics. Instead, he praises the taciturn former KGB man who runs Russia for his ‘leadership’.

For his part, Mr Putin has praised the bouffant-haired buffoon, terming him a ‘colourful and talented’ person (Trump termed that compliment an ‘honour’). Later he asked rhetorically: ‘A guy calls me a genius, and I’m going to renounce [it]?’

The really worrying thing about this profoundly disturbing dossier is that it is not enough to torpedo Trump’s Presidential campaign.

It is a sign of how furious and despairing many Americans are with their political system that they discount reports of the Republican candidate’s Kremlin ties as either the product of media bias, or nothing worth worrying about. 

In contrast to what American political observers call his ‘bromance’ — brotherly romance — with Mr Putin, Trump is remarkably lukewarm about America’s conventional allies.

In an interview with the New York Times, he said that on his watch, America would defend Nato members attacked by Russia only if they had ‘fulfilled their obligations’.

Americans are right to decry European countries who don’t spend enough on defence but one of the handful that genuinely do meet the Western alliance’s target, spending two per cent of GDP on defence spending, is Estonia, a Baltic state directly threatened by Russia.

If any ally deserves American support it is loyal little Estonia — a country which suffered more military casualties per head in faraway Afghanistan than any other Nato member.

Yet Newt Gingrich, the bombastic professor who many tip as a future Secretary of State in a Trump administration, dismissed Estonia as unworthy of American support in a crisis. It was, he said, merely a ‘suburb of St Petersburg’.

The message to America’s allies, one that must be echoing through the corridors of Whitehall, is chilling. 

No matter how much blood and treasure you have expended in helping the United States in its wars, do not count on any support when you are in trouble.

Donald Trump, in his criticism of the U.S., echoes the anti-Americanism which the Kremlin propagates. 

Key themes are that America has no moral weight in the world and no claim to global leadership.

Asked about human rights, Mr Trump said America has its own ‘mess’ to worry about: in other words, its 60-year mission to defend freedom and democracy is over.

If those fragile, ill-defended frontline states like Estonia believe they will be abandoned by their allies in a new Cold War, some of them will wonder if it is better to do a deal with Russia now — at a time and on terms of their own choosing — than have to negotiate at gunpoint, alone and friendless, some time in the not-too-distant future.

In short, Trump’s approach to the West, weakening the resolve of Nato allies, chimes exactly with Putin’s plan for destroying it. 

A pro-Kremlin blogger put it like this: ‘Trump will smash America as we know it.’

Putin does not need to give Trump directions: his ‘useful idiocy’, in Lenin’s classic phrase, is enough.

What the Russian leader wants to do is to help him — notably by undermining Mrs Clinton, the only person who can keep Trump out of the White House.

Both men share a similarly nihilistic worldview. Only power matters; values count for nothing. 

The difference is that Putin is a highly-skilled KGB officer, schooled in the arts of deception and recruitment.

Trump, by comparison, is the pampered child of wealthy family, who has escaped numerous well-deserved comeuppances through bluff and bombast.

If the two men ever do meet as world leaders, make no mistake: it is Vladimir Putin who will be calling the shots.

And we will all be the losers.

Japanese Surgeon Promises Dream Team VI $30,000 Each for Olympic Gold

Dream Team VI

A benefactor has promised a bonus of $30,000 to each Nigerian player should they win gold at the Rio 2016 men’s Olympic football tournament in Brazil according to the BBC.

Celebrated Japanese plastic surgeon Katsuya Takasu announced his desire to reward the 1996 Olympic football champions, along with $20,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze after hearing about their financial woes.

“I read about the financial problems affecting the team and I felt the need to make a big contribution,” Takasu told BBC Sport.

“I am not doing this for media attention but to motivate a team with an indomitable spirit. I fell in love with the Nigerian team because despite all these problems they are in the quarter-finals of the Olympics.

“Whether they win or not, I will still donate something to help alleviate the challenges in paying their bonuses and allowances.”

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were impressed by this gesture but are being careful. “I have been in direct contact with Mr Takasu and impressed by his gesture,” NFF vice-president Seyi Akinwunmi told BBC Sport.

“But we need not get carried away because the integrity of the country is at stake. First we must check about this. Significantly, the team has an important game and we need to focus on that.”

Before arriving in Rio, the ‘Dream Team VI’ were held up in Atlanta, USA, because of a problem with the payment for their flight.

The 1996 Olympic champions only landed in Brazil just hours before their opening 5-4 win over Japan. Nigeria had a troubled build-up to their quarter-final against Denmark in Salvador on Saturday.

The players boycotted a training session in a dispute over pay, and their injured top scorer with four goals – Ogenekaro Etebo – has been ruled out of the match but will return should Nigeria advance to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Olympic team have now received their camp allowances from the government, according to the team’s media officer Timi Ebikagboro.

“The sports ministry has cleared all camp allowances of the team in Brazil. Players and officials have now been paid 22 days allowances,” said Ebikagboro.

No fraud case against #SaveMayowa, say police

Eniola Akinkuotu

The Lagos State Police command says it has investigated the controversy surrounding the funding and medical treatment of Mayowa Ahmed and has not been able to establish any case of fraud against Ahmed or members of her family.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, said this in a statement on Friday.

It would be recalled that the victim’s family, supported by Nollywood actress, Toyin Aimakhu; and Miss Aramide Kasumu, the director of Lifestake Foundation, had launched an online appeal to raise funds for her cancer surgery in an Atlanta- based hospital in the United States.

The campaign was said to have raised over N80m and a separate $100,000 for her but Aimakhu later alleged on social media that the campaign was a scam.

The police spokesperson, however, described the controversy as a mere misunderstanding between the parties involved.

The statement read in part, “On July 28 the Ahmed family wanted to take Mayowa out of the hospital and Both Toyin and Aramide demanded to know the destination, this led to crisis between the family and the other party, with both Aramide and Toyin Aimakhu realising Mayowa does not have valid visa to United States of America

“The inability of both parties to communicate appropriately led to allegation and counter allegation, with the duo of Toyin and Aramide thinking the family have no intention of seeking medical help for Mayowa abroad and might likely divert the fund away from the purpose it’s meant for.

“The command having waded in had ensured that a genuine hospital in South Africa was contacted by the family.”

Badmos said the investigation which was carried out by the Police X Squad revealed that the victim indeed had Ovarian Cancer

She revealed that till date a total N81,278,954.81 had been deposited into Mayowa’s bank account while $100,000 is in the Gofundme internet account.

The police spokesperson said the police had unfrozen the account but would continue to monitor it closely.

She said, “The inability of both parties to communicate appropriately led to allegation and counter-allegation, with the duo of Toyin and Aramide thinking the family had no intention of seeking medical help for Mayowa abroad and might likely divert the fund away from the purpose it’s meant for.

“The command having waded in had ensured that a genuine hospital in South Africa was contacted by the family and she will be under the care of one Dr. Naicker.

“Flight arrangements are already concluded with mini air ambulance and medical certificate duly issued to enable her travel.

“The lien placed on the account has been lifted to enable Mayowa access fund for her medical treatment and for every other expenses to be made.”

 Copyright PUNCH.