As Corruption Allegations Heighten Tension In EFCC, Lamorde Fights Back…Summons Steve Oransanye For Backing Sacked NFIU Director

There is an uneasy calm within the leadership of Nigeria’s anti-graft police, the EFCC whose Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde is currently embroiled in a bitter battle with an Assistant Director in the Commission, Ms Juliet Ibekaku who until last week was the acting Director of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU domiciled in the EFCC.

Investigations by iReports-ng.com revealed that the daily festering scandal started when Ibekaku began to operate the NFIU as an autonomous intelligence agency by compiling dirty reports of secret movements of funds in and out of the country by top government officials using Nigerian banks. The sacked FIU boss was said to have taken some of the reports including a dirty dossier of corruption on the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde to President Goodluck Jonathan. The president in turn handed over some of the reports to the Department of State Security Service to investigate instead of the EFCC which is empowered by law to investigate and prosecute financial crimes because of the indictment of Lamorde in the reports.

The reports, a top source in DSS told our reporters in Abuja led to the recent arrest of some highly placed officials of some banks who are still being detained in Abuja. Uncomfortable that the presidency may soon act on his indictment, Lamorde was said to have moved against Ibekaku last week. He ordered her immediate redeployment from NFIU and posted her to the legal department of the EFCC, Lagos office. To prevent Ibekaku from leaving the FIU with any sensitive document, Lamorde sent a detachment of armed mobile policemen to chase out Ibekaku and other officials of the FIU thus distrupting its operations for several hours.

When the invasion of the NFIU was leaked to the media, the Commission in a statement denied such ever happened but admitted that Ibekaku was removed and another officer of the Commission posted there. A close source to Ibekaku however told iReports-ng.com that “the Commission lied by denying such a shameless invasion of an autonomous sensitive government agency simply because Juliet has some indicting dossier on the EFCC chairman detailing his rackets. But they forget that the documents of the scandal they were trying to cover up have gone into safe hands.” Some of the documents have already been obtained by iReports-ng.com while the source who said what we have seen remains a child’s play promised to avail us more in the coming days.

Not done with Ibekaku who has the backing of some top officials in the presidency, members of the National Assembly and former Head of Service, Steve Oronsanye, Lamorde was said to have decided to hit back at those who provided the link for Ibekaku to submit such damning report to President Jonathan on him. Oronsanye then becomes a target. The former Head of Service was said to have been instrumental to the access Ibekaku has to the presidency because of his closeness to President Jonathan. Besides, Oronsanye was said to have been responsible, as the Chairman of the Presidential committee on Financial Action Task Force, FATF, for the bill currently sailing through the Senate for the setting up of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency, which will ultimately make NFIU legally autonomous. Before now, Oronsanye as Chairman of the Committee handling reforms in the public service had recommended the merging of the EFCC with the Police Force.

It was further gathered that while the EFCC chairman has hired media consultants to help manage the damaging effects of the dossier now generating the heat in the Commission if it eventually leaks in the media, he has on the other hand fired back at Oronsanye by summoning him to appear before a team of operatives today to explain his relationships with some former officials of the Pension Office in the Office of the Head of Service. A source close to Oronsanye told iReports-ng.com in Abuja that “oga (Oronsanye) is ready for Lamorde if he thinks he can blackmail someone of the status of Oronsanye with some cooked up allegations. Imagine him (Lamorde) inviting oga to come and answer questions over a matter that had been investigated and charged to court by even his predecessor, Madam Waziri. Why? We know it’s a blackmail and a way of getting back at oga over the indicting dossier said to have been compiled by the NFIU boss who was physically rough handled and forced out of her office by policemen attached to the EFCC last week. The matter is just starting though as the whole truth will soon be let out because the last has not been heard yet.”

Civilian Arrangement

In his song ‘Army Arrangement’, Fela tracks the disappearance of N7 billion in a foreign currency scandal and N2.8 billion ‘oil money’ and the fake storm it created under Obasanjo’s military administration. In the former, a few people were jailed but within a year they were released for being innocent while in the latter there was the usual inquiry that ended with an announcement that the money was not missing after all. That was then. Today, we can only wonder what Fela would make of the fantastic public sums which vanish into champagne bottles and private jets. In the song, he is outraged about the theft and mocks the insincere arrangement by which investigations are handled. Today, what is being siphoned is 100 times more than what was being stolen 30 years ago, but we are barely even talking about it. As for singing to raise awareness, nothing could be farther from the minds of our musical stars. Since President Jonathan was sworn in on May 6, 2010, some of the major scandals involving the theft and disappearance of public funds or alleged embezzlement include the following: According to Governor Amaechi, there is $5 billion missing from the Excess Crude Account. However, in a now familiar plot, the coordinating minister for the economy denies this allegation.

Two weeks ago, the Senate raised the alarm about the subsidy savings from January 2012 - September 2013 which should be N800 billion but only N300 Billion has been accounted for under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). This would be amusing if there was no direct correlation to the rate of maternal and infant mortality which part of this money was supposed to address. And regardless of the tardiness of attack on Ambassador Kolade’s conscience, if only N300 billion has been paid out, then less than a third of that money has actually gone towards any activities to improve the lives of Nigerians.

The N225 million for two armoured BMWs scandal needs no introduction. It announces itself flamboyantly and scarily made up. However, considering the frightful numbers bandied around as the cost of the few airport facelifts under this administration, there are bound to be more skeletons or empty Ghana-must-go bags tumbling out of the aviation closet.

N2.5 trillion fuel subsidy bill…or something like that. When it comes to the fuel subsidy heist, nothing is so maddening as the fact that we are not even sure how much has been lost. According to the Punch, at the height of the discussions about how much the fuel subsidy was allegedly costing Nigeria, NNPC put the figure at N1.3 trillion; the finance minister and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency said N1.4 trillion; the accountant-general of the federation claimed N1.6 trillion; and CBN tallied N1.7 trillion. By the time the House of Representatives completed their investigations, the amount was closer to N2.5 trillion. Nothing has happened apart from a few mock arraignments almost a year ago.

The missing pension funds constitute a particularly interesting story because of multiple actors and organisations and the same inability to count. The main star is Abdulrasheed Maina, who chaired the Pension Reform Task Team and who, along with a supporting cast of civil servants, are responsible for up to N700 billion being allegedly stolen from pension funds. While Maina was meant to restore sanity to the pension units of the civil service and police, the Senate Pension Probe Committee clanged another alarm that Maina had started restoring money to himself – up to N195 billion. Maina has since relocated and the matter is dead.

According to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s audit report, NNPC owes the federal government N1.3 trillion ($8.3 billion) in earnings from 2009-2011. It is not clear, though, whether this amount includes the N758 billion that the NNPC owes the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas company but it is unlikely that it does. As far as the public is aware, no one has been held responsible for this debt.

Crude oil theft in Nigeria has been elevated to a legal multi billion-dollar source of revenue. Almost N2 trillion ($11 billion) has been confirmed lost due to crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism between 2009 and 2011 alone. Today, the rate is allegedly higher, causing Shell to shut down certain rigs as unviable in the face of the ‘raging theft’. Last month, production was deferred because of leaks observed on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) and officials report that a total of 189 crude theft points have been repaired on the TNP and NCTL between January and September this year. Yet, Tompolo’s Global West Vessel Specialist Limited was awarded a N15 billion contract in 2012 to survey and protect the pipelines from crude oil theft.

Although the transactions for OPL 245 started in 1998 when Dan Etete was minister of petroleum, the Malabu $1.3 billion deal only closed in 2011 with the active participation of this administration. In this deal, a few Nigerians and their agents earned at least $1.1 billion while Nigeria and its people lost one of the most productive offshore blocks with as much as 9 billion barrels of oil—enough to keep all of Africa supplied for seven years according to The Economist. The investigations of the EFCC have not been in the least impactful.

And this is only the very tip of the iceberg. The same raging theft under civilian arrangements are going on in the states, local governments, ministries, agencies and departments – but who is counting?

This is what we’ve inherited from our years under the military – a graduation to an avalanche of greed. Towards the end of “Army Arrangement”, Fela acknowledges that ‘paddies’ that have cornered Nigeria so that few people ‘dey fat with biggy money
and the rest dey hungry’- that’s the most enduring legacy from the military years: that the civilians have learnt how to arrange themselves. If anyone was in doubt, we are not a democracy - we are just living under a civilian arrangement – infinitesimally better than the army one.

Gov Aliyu dissociates self from merger, says ‘am still in PDP’

Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger state has dissociated himself from the purported merger of the new PDP with the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he remains in the PDP.
Reacting, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Danladi Ndayebo said his principal was shocked at the announcement of the merger of New PDP and APC even before a final decision was taken on the matter.

Contrary to what Abubakar Baraje told newsmen in Abuja that Governor Aliyu attended the meeting but left earlier, Ndayebo insisted his Principal was not present at the meeting where the merger deal was sealed between the Baraje-led nPDP and APC leaders.
Aliyu however, said he would await the outcome of the ongoing negotiation with President Goodluck Jonathan before taking final decision on his political future.

Meanwhile, a leader of the APC in Niger state and former Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Alhaji Umar Shuaibu has described the news of the merger between new PDP and APC ahs a welcome development.
According to him, “We welcome the new development, it is a confirmation that PDP is not working. Now APC is the party in government and it is now the ruling party in Niger State.

“Governor Aliyu is welcomed to the party, APC is opened to everybody. We are now the ruling party in Niger State; we will now bring about development in Niger. As we know, APC has been talking about the non performance of the PDP in Niger; it is now an avenue for the APC to work in the state.
“Whether Governor Aliyu is accepted or not in the party is a non-issue because APC is opened to everybody. Politics is a game of number; the more the number, the more the strength of the party.”

"Fallout of Anambra Guber:

 I Did Not Rig Alone - Arrested INEC Official" - By: Donald Ojogo, Okechukwu Obeta, Bayo Oladeji, Igho Oyoyo on November 20, 2013

A principal actor in the controversial Anambra governorship election of November 16 has reportedly made sterling revelations to his interrogators in Abuja.

Mr Okeke Chukwujekwu, the electoral officer in charge of Idemili North local government area of Anambra State, currently in police detention over his role in the electoral saga, was said to have told his police investigators that he was “being used and dumped”.

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, had, in the heat of the controversies generated by the flawed poll, admitted that the “electoral officer” in Idemili North “messed up” and that he would be handed over to the police for prosecution.

Chukwujekwu was moved to Abuja on Sunday, just as INEC said it was conducting a probe into the deliberate sabotage of the governorship election.

A top official involved in the election confided in LEADERSHIP yesterday that the arrested INEC official had made useful statements even as he was apprehensive that top directors of INEC might be “implicated”.

“The way this whole thing is going, it looks as if many heads will roll in INEC because the young man has made useful statements and if what he said is anything to rely upon, it then means that some big names in that commission might fall with him.

“At first, he was trying to rationalise his action in that local government area when he was verbally quizzed before the intervention of the police; but, after some time, especially at the point of his detention, he started to cooperate but the cooperation is loaded because he has mentioned some top officials of INEC, especially directors and a PDP chieftain, as those who ‘put him in trouble’.

Although the source declined to disclose the identities of those involved, he said “preliminary confessions” point to the fact that the bungled election in most LGAs of the state was “packaged by aggrieved politicians in connivance with top INEC officials both in Abuja and Awka” adding: “It was a well-funded package.”

“All fingers point to some aggrieved politicians and it was a well-funded package that involved quite a lot of people; that is why the man is saying he has been used and dumped,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jega has said all enquiries regarding arrests made in the bungled Anambra election should be referred to the police.

Jega’s chief press secretary, Kayode Idowu, told LEADERSHIP on the telephone that INEC would not comment on the arrested official who allegedly played a key role in the flawed poll.

“One, I cannot say anything on his matter because the police has taken over a larger chunk of the matter; only the police can say something on the role of the man arrested and how far they have gone with their investigation; so you have to contact the police.

“Again, it will be out of place for me to reel out what the commission intends to do. Mind you, INEC is also carrying out its administrative interrogation on his matter,” he said.

INEC does not need court order to cancel tainted poll - APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused INEC of being economical with the truth by saying only the courts can order the cancellation of last Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra in which about 1.3 million of the 1.7 million registered voters were unable to exercise their franchise.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its interim national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party reminded INEC that it did not wait for a court order to cancel the National Assembly elections in 2011 when it was obvious that many voters across the country could not vote due to the late arrival or non-delivery of voting materials.

‘’In announcing the cancellation of the National Assembly election in 2011, INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega said, among others, that it was to ‘maintain the integrity of the elections and retain effective overall control of the process’,’’ it said.

APC said the situation in Anambra last Saturday was even more serious because, in addition to the fact that voting materials were either late or not delivered at all, most voters were disenfranchised by an INEC official who apparently tampered with the 2011 voters’ register for the state.

‘’Therefore, there are more compelling reasons now to cancel the Anambra governorship election than what led to the cancellation and rescheduling of the National Assembly election in 2011, unless of course INEC is still acting out the script handed to it for the ill-fated election,’’ the party said.

Apologise to Nigerians, HURIWA, TCN tell Jega
In a related development, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and the Transparency Center Network (TCN) have asked INEC chairman Prof Attahiru Jega to apologise to Nigerians for the apparent failure and administrative flaws that marred the November 16, 2013, governorship poll in Anambra State.

The groups also asked the hierarchy of the electoral body to name, shame and prosecute all the electoral officials that in one way or the other colluded with reactionary political forces to undermine the transparent conduct of the bungled election which was declared inconclusive.

According to the groups, the bulk of blame and responsibility lies with INEC which is constitutionally empowered to conduct free, fair and transparent elections nationally.

The groups stated this in a joint statement signed by the national coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, who is also the deputy chief of mission for Transparency Center Network (TCN), an officially accredited election observer to the Anambra election, as well as the national director of media affairs of HURIWA, Miss Zainab Yusuf.

They noted that the failure of INEC in Anambra is an unfortunate foretaste of what may happen in 2015 unless and except comprehensive reforms are executed in INEC by the National Assembly to make it transparent, accountable, effective and efficient.

5 Ailments That Can Be Cured By Séx

According to The Daily Mail, the hypothalamus region of the brain is active during a cluster headache, and the same area shows activity during orgasm.

So, what else can séx cure? Take a look at the list below and start treating your ailments.

1. Stress
Need to relax? Look no further than the bedroom. In a Scottish study, men and women were placed in stressful situations and told to keep records of their séxual activity. People who had recorded having intercourse responded better to stress.

2. Sleeping Problems
Trouble hitting the hay? Forget counting sheep. Oxytocin, the endorphin released during orgasms, also promotes sleep.

3. High Blood Pressure
Researchers discovered that séxually active people have lower blood pressure when faced with stressful tasks.

4. Bad Mood
Not only does semen contain mood-elevating chemicals, such as endorphins and oxytocin, the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Séxuality found that séxually active people take fewer sick leaves and enjoy life more. Séx has also been shown to boost self-esteem.

5. Dull Skin
No need to apply extra bronzer. Turns out, the “séx glow” is real after all. Thanks to increased blood circulation, oxygenation of the blood, and a rush of endorphins post-orgasm, the effects of séx can do temporary wonders for your complexion.

How entire Tulang Diyot island in Cebu survived Yolanda's wrath

The promise of “zero casualty” is an irony in many areas after typhoon “Yolanda” but it rings true for a small island in Cebu which was also hit by the monster storm.

All residents of Tulang Diyot Island in a Cebu town survived even if some 500 houses were destroyed by winds and waves from typhoon Yolanda, a UN report said.

The report attributed the absence of casualties to the evacuation of around 1,000 people from the island under San Francisco town Mayor Alfredo Arquillano’s orders.

“When it was clear how bad the typhoon would be, we decided to evacuate all 1,000 people,” the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction quoted the mayor as saying.

Arquillano, who UNISDR recognized as a champion of for its Making Cities Resilient Campaign, said his constituents also “understood the need to move to safety.”

“My goodness, it was a good decision; it’s fair to say it saved everyone’s life. There is not one house left standing on the island, everything was wiped out,” Arquillano said.

Tulang Diyot is part of Cebu province’s Camotes Islands, in between larger Cebu and Leyte islands. it is about 1.5 kilometers long and 500 meters across at its widest.

Yolanda battered Cebu and neighboring provinces November 8, taking thousands of lives and destroying property with powerful winds and huge waves.

“We have been working for years on early warnings, evacuations,” said Arquillano, under whose leadership San Francisco won a UN Disaster Risk Reduction Award in 2011.

“It just shows that preparedness pays,” the mayor said further, adding that “the awareness level of the community was so high that [the evacuation] went well.”

Arquillano said he is now urging residents of low-lying Tulang Diyot to permanently relocate to San Francisco’s main island. “They shouldn’t go back,” he said.

The mayor noted however that “it will be a challenge to try to relocate them somewhere safe and where they can rebuild their livelihoods as fishermen or farmers.”

Jonathan shields corrupt officials – G7 govs allege

Governors in the New PDP faction yesterday said corruption is “thriving with impunity” in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and demanded an urgent probe of allegations against key officials and agencies.
The seven governors said in a communiqué after a meeting in Sokoto Saturday night that the president has been shielding aides indicted in corrupt deals, as well as refusing to act on reports of “squandering” of public funds.
The G7 governors’ statement came in the wake of reports that they were being investigated by anti-corruption agencies.
Already the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is holding two sons of Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido—one of the G7 governors—over allegations of money laundering of about N10 billion.
Reports say the other six governors are also facing probe of finances of their states, allegedly because of their dispute with the mainstream Peoples Democratic Party backed by President Jonathan.

They are Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).
The seven governors held a long meeting in Sokoto on Saturday, as part of what a spokesman said was “their continued efforts to promote good governance and transparency in the Nigerian polity.”
During the meeting they “reviewed the state of the nation particularly on how corruption is striving (sic) with impunity” in the Federal Government, said a statement on behalf of the governors issued by Sani Umar, a spokesman for Wamakko.
“The governors noted during their meeting how: 1- the fed govt blatantly refused to be responsive to various issues that were raised and expressed by the legislatures, Civil Society Organisations and the Nigerian public. These exposures of corruption involving federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies or Presidential appointees; include but are (not) limited to:-
“A- the failure of the NNPC to render proper accounts of its transactions and remittances as statutory required.
“B- the continued shielding of those involved in the notorious Malabu oil block deal which in the last two months has been the main issue of national discuss (sic) and concern in the media.
“C- the squandering of the SURE-P funds and substantial diversion of the funds, as well as the programme been dedicated for the prosecution of personal political agenda.
“2- arising from the foregoing the governors strongly hold the view that in order to show good cause in fighting corruption Mr. President as a matter of urgency should instruct security agencies to commence investigating such allegations with a view to prosecuting the culprits.
“3- this the meeting resolved is the only way that Mr. President will demonstrate his genuine commitment to fighting the menace of corruption as part of his agenda in transforming Nigeria,” the statement said.
But in a reaction, the Presidency last night blasted the G7 governors, saying their allegations were baseless, and challenged them to tackle corruption in their states.
Jonathan’s political adviser Barrister Ahmed Ali Gulak said in an interview with Daily Trust: “The claim by the so-called G7 governors that Mr President is not committed to the fight against corruption or that he is shielding some people alleged to be corrupt, is baseless and unfounded. So, rather than make false accusations against Mr President, the so-called G7 governors should fight corruption in their respective states.
“Are they telling Nigerians that corruption is not thriving in their states? How can these governors explain the situation where N10 billion, N15 billion were found in their sons and daughters’ bank accounts? What was the worth of these children before their fathers became governors? What was the worth of their fathers too before they became governors? Let the G7 governors explain this to Nigerians