Four Soldiers Hurt In Central Ambush: Military

Kano - Suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened
fire on a military convoy at the weekend in central
Kogi state, injuring four soldiers, a senior military
source said Tuesday.
The convoy of 850 soldiers came under fire late
Sunday near the town of Okene as they drove
towards the Kogi state

Oil Subsidy Trial Resumed Today

Lagos - The trial of the alleged oil subsidy fraud
suspects resumed today at the Lagos High Court
after months of suspension following the annual
vacation holiday by the Lagos Judiciary.
Ope Yemi Ajuyah and her company, Majope
Investment Ltd, are on trial for defrauding the
Federal Government of about N1.1 billion through
scheme.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) is seeking the prosecution of co-suspects,
including oil marketer, Abdullahi Alao and
Olanrewaju Olalusi, a staff of Sterling Bank Plc.
At the resumption of proceedings of the trial before
Justice Lateefat Okunnu, counsel to Ajuyah,
Olarenwaju Ajanaku rejected the claim by the EFCC
that his client conspired with others to divert over
10 000 metric tonnes of premium motor spirits.
An EFCC investigator, Effa Okim, had in May
testified that the defendants had claimed that they
imported 15 000 metric tonnes of PMS and
thereafter collected subsidy payment.
Okim said investigations by the EFCC showed that
the vessel, MT Brave, only discharged 4 264 metric
tonnes at the Lister Jetty in Apapa, while the
remaining product was diverted to an unknown
destination.
He said Majope Investment Ltd. later obtained a
subsidy payment for 15 000 metric tonnes from the
Petroleum Support Fund for the said transaction.
However, under-cross examination by Ajanaku,
Okim admitted that an independent auditor, Ezekiel
Ejidele, who supervised the transaction, admitted
that 15,000 metric tonnes were discharged.
Addressing the witness, he argued that the EFCC
failed to do a thorough investigation of the
transaction and tendered Ejidele's statement to the
commission which was admitted as exhibit by the
court.
He said in the statement, Ejidele, a staff of Akintola
Williams Delloite Auditing Firm, confirmed that 15
000 metric tonnes was discharged at the jetty.
Ajanaku further argued that the discharge
certificates signed by the other surveyors, Q and Q
Survey Ltd. and Petroma Logistics Ltd. also
revealed a discharge of 15 000 metric tonnes.
The matter was adjourned to Friday for continuation
of trial.

BREAKING: 67 South Africans killed at Synagogue building collapse

Johannesburg -South African President Jacob Zuma
announced Tuesday that 67 South Africans died in a
building collapse in Nigeria's financial capital Lagos.
"I am greatly saddened to announce that 67 South
Africans died and scores of others sustained
injuries, after a building at the

Jonathan urged to declare 'total war' on BokoHaram

Abuja - Senators said Tuesday 16 September they
will meet with President Goodluck Jonathan to
press him to declare "total war" on Boko Haram,
in a sign of frustration and concern over
worsening security.
The upper house lawmakers will urge

Ronaldo Return To Old Trafford More Possible

The former Red Devils defender believes the work
his club have done in the market this summer
could help attract the Real Madrid superstar bac
to Old Trafford
Gary Neville believes Manchester United 's summ
transfer splurge means the prospect of Cristiano
Ronaldo making a return to

S’Africa seizes $9.3m cash from twoNigerians, Israeli

The South African police are investigating two
Nigerians and an Israeli citizen who tried to
bring $9.3m (about 150bn, in cash into the
country illegally, a spokesman said on Monday,
in what might have been part of an arms deal.
Reuters reported that the South African Revenue
Service seized the funds

Ronaldo Made Me Loose The Champion's League "Mourinho"

Chelsea manager Jose
Mourinho has revealed
that Real Madrid player
Cristiano Ronaldo cost
him an opportunity to
win the UEFA Champions
league during his reign
as Madrid boss.
The 52 year old started
coaching at the Santiago
Bernabeu in 2010,
having

APC

The All Progressives
Congress (APC) has
insisted that the rallies
being held across the
country by the so-called
Transformation
Ambassadors of Nigeria
(TAN) represent an
assault on the
intelligence and
sensibilities of Nigerians,
at a time of
unprecedented security
and health challenges in
the country.
Responding to the tepid
defence of the
sycophantic rallies that
are being deceptively
powered by the proceeds
of massive corruption
under the clueless and
incompetent Jonathan
Administration, the party
said, in a statement
issued by its National
Publicity Secretary,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in
Lagos on Sunday, that no
amount of inversion of
reasoning by the TAN
foot soldiers can wash
the rallies clean of shame
and disgust.
It said only those
described as 'morons
and sycophants' by Prof.
Wole Soyinka can be
engaging in celebratory
rallies when soldiers are
dying on the Boko
Haram battle front, when
citizens are daily being
dispatched to their
graves by insurgents and
when the country is still
reeling from the
challenge of Ebola that
has claimed many
innocent lives.
APC wondered how the
inauguration of its
regional executives in
Sokoto could be equated
with the rallies being
held across the country
by TAN, which is another
name for the PDP, which
is another name for
shame, incompetence,
cluelessness, cruelty,
insincerity and
insensitivity.
The party said if
President Goodluck
Jonathan had not been
running a government
hallmarked by impunity,
there is no way any
political party would
have brazenly kick-
started electioneering
campaign under the
guise of an ''NGO'' that is
coordinated by the
Secretary to the
Government of the
Federation, Ministers,
State Governors and
other public officials, at
a time like this.
''The PDP-led Federal
Government and its
'NGO' called TAN are
bare-faced liars and
cheats. They have seized
an undue advantage over
every other party by
defying the nation's laws
to start an early
electioneering campaign,
and no one, not even
INEC, dares call them to
order! Little wonder,
their podiums are
collapsing under the
weight of their lies,'' it
said.
APC slammed TAN's self-
serving Director of
Communications Udenta
Udenta for attempting to
pull the wool over the
eyes of Nigerians by
shamelessly justifying the
insane rallies.
''We have the following
posers for the deceptive
and pigs-at-the trough
TAN organizers: If Mr
Udenta and his co-
travelers were parents,
relations or friends of
any of the over 200
missing Chibok
schoolgirls, wouldn't
such TAN rallies offend
their sensibilities? If Mr
Udenta or any of his co-
travelers in TAN had lost
a relation or dear one to
Ebola in Port Harcourt,
won't such a rally in the
same city about the same
time offend their
sensibilities? Can Mr.
Udenta tell Nigerians the
source of funding of
TAN? Can Mr. Udenta tell
Nigerians how much TAN
has spent so far in
canvassing for
Jonathan's re-election or
for that matter how
much it spends daily on
radio jingles, television
and newspapers advert,
billboards etc? Can Mr.
Udenta tender to the
public TAN's audited
account?
''We know Mr. Udenta
has no answers to these
posers, but we have no
iota of doubt that
Nigerians know that TAN
is funded and powered
by the massive
corruption of this
government, including
but not limited to the
missing $20 billion, the
over one trillion fuel
subsidy scam, the
kerosene subsidy scam,
the hundreds of
thousands of barrels of
our crude oil being
stolen daily, the Pension
scam, the Malibu Oil
scandal etc. We also
know through which top
functionaries of
government funds are
funneled to TAN,'' the
party said.
APC said it would not
stop calling for an end to
the TAN rallies until
common sense prevails
and the President, who
waited for an
international
condemnation of his
BringBackJonathan hash
tag before taking action,
is again forced to call his
selfish sycophants to
order.
''Our soldiers are
combating Boko Haram
literally with their bare
hands and under the
most intolerable
conditions and our
government is partying
around town. As we
write, a Nigerian war
plane has been declared
missing in the battle
zone and our
government is
celebrating. Clearly, if a
fraction of the funds TAN
had been expending in
its multi-billion naira
adverts on radio,
television, newspapers,
billboard, online and on
London buses, not to talk
of the mobilization for
rallies, can be made
available to our soldiers,
Boko Haram would have
long been forgotten.
''Again, these times call
for deep reflection and
not for deep throats.
These times call for cool-
headed and decent men
and women to realize
that a nation at war
cannot be celebrating,
because it sends the very
wrong message to the
men and women
deployed to the battle
zone to protect our
nation. This is not about
politics, this is about
common sense,
sensibilitity.

APC Denies Buhari, Others Automatic Ticket

The leadership of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) at the weekend revealed that
it would not grant any of its leading
presidential aspirants automatic ticket.

ThisDay reports that the disclosure was made
on phone by the party’s National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, who
explained that the decision was in reaction to
the mounting pressure from certain group
within the party.
READ ALSO: PDP Threatens To Reveal APC
Members Sponsoring BH
Muhammed was said to have further revealed
that some elements within the party were
agitating for concessions that would favour
former military Head of State, Major-General
Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) as the party’s flag
bearer for the 2015 presidential election.
The national publicity secretary, went ahead to
categorically state that granting an automatic
ticket would never be possible in APC, assuring
that there is nothing like automatic ticket for
anyone, and insisted that party will do no such
thing.
“Most of these people who habour such
thoughts do not have access to the party
leaders, including Tinubu and Buhari. We
intend to showcase our internal democracy. As
a matter of fact, we intend to showcase a
model of internal democracy for other parties
to emulate, “he said.
Muhammed hinted that APC National Working
Committee (NWC) meeting is slated for
Wednesday, where the leadership is expected
to work out the modalities for the party’s
primaries ahead the presidential elections.
It was further gathered that although the party
has rejected the idea of automatic ticket for
any of its candidate, there were speculations
that some interest groups in the opposition
party are taking advantage of the occurrence
to cause controversy since the party is yet to
completely overcome the plot to settle for a
Muslim-Muslim ticket as its presidential
candidate and running mate.
It was also gathered the decision against the
idea of automatic ticket did not go down well
with the supporters of leading presidential
contenders like former Vice-President Atiku
Abubakar, Kano State Governor Ibrahim
Kwankwaso, and Senator Bukola Saraki.
However, a group of loyalists to the former
military head of state have reportedly
continued mounting pressure on the party
leaders to consider granting Buhari
concessions and urge others contenders to
back down and support him.
Meanwhile, a party chieftain who spoke on
condition of anonymity disclosed that the
solicitation for automatic for Buhari was in line
with the merger agreement allegedly reached
between Bola Tinubu’s Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) and Buhari’s Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC).
The source said the agreement was to anoint
the party’s standard-bearer without going
through an election, which is obviously not
going well with Kwankwaso, Saraki and Atiku
supporters.
READ ALSO: TAN Rally Goes Bloody In Niger
It would be recalled that the All Progressive
Congress (APC) was formed in February 2013,
through the merger of four Nigeria’s biggest
opposition parties comprising the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP), and the All Progressives
Grand Alliance (APGA) with the aiming of
outing the ruling People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) out of power.
The party which is already having internal
issues in Lagos, on September 3, 2014
experienced the pulling out of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, as
announced by Prince Adesina Olayokun, the
state’s APGA chairman.
However, the party had earlier announced that
it would start its primary elections in October
2014, to enable them nominate a presidential
candidate for the 2015 general election.