STB-NEWS-Be fair in the fight against corruption, Anyanwu tells Buhari click to read more

 ASABA—Senator Chris Anyanwu has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to be fair in his fight against corruption.
Anyanwu, the chairperson of Spectrum Broadcast Nigeria Limited, owners of Hot FM chain of radio stations, stated this in a chat with newsmen shortly before the commissioning of Hot FM 96.5 station in Asaba. She said: “I think the idea of anti-corruption is very good. I think we got a little bit too extreme in our carelessness, in our practices, so there is need to apply breaks on what we do in the system.” On the radio station, Anyanwu said that besides Asaba being an expanding city with a lot of potentials and a major player in the Niger Delta and Nigerian economic development, the management of Hot FM was contributing to the development goals of Delta State Government by providing employment to its indigence. She said that the station would give its audience clear, concise and credible news as well as best entertainment, informative, interactive and engaging program. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who spoke while commissioning the station, said: “Radio remains the most effective medium of mass communication in societies where sustainable development is paramount.”

STB-NEWS:Niger Delta crisis: Solution lies in dialogue not troops deployment —IYC click to read full story

Yenagoa—The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, worldwide, yesterday faulted the Federal Government’s decision to deploy more troops in the Niger Delta to protect oil installations, saying that the move would not stop oil theft, kidnapping and pipeline vandalism.
Spokesman of IYC, Eric Omare, in a statement in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said that the solution to the problem lies in the constructive engagement of the people of the region. He said: “From our experience of attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta region, sending more troops to the region will not solve the problem. It is common knowledge that incidents of oil theft, kidnapping and attacks on oil pipelines have been on the increase despite the presence of military men around oil installations and communities in the Niger Delta region. “The IYC has always maintained that in some cases, security agents, contractors and even multi-national oil company workers are involved in these illegalities going on in the Niger Delta region. “The Federal Government cannot claim ignorance of this fact with the security apparatus at its disposal. Instead of sending more troops who would come and commit more inconveniences to the people of the region such as intimidation, harassment of innocent villagers and unnecessary arrests, we call for quality intelligence gathering on the role of oil companies’ workers, contractors and security agents on the attacks on oil facilities. “Ultimately, the solution to the problem of attacks on oil facilities lies in constructively engaging the people and communities of the Niger Delta where oil facilities are located.”

STB-NEWS:I agree with those who say the economy is bad, Soyinka tells Buhari click and read full story

ABUJA— Apparently worried by the continuous decline in the nation’s economy, Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to convene an emergency economic conference for experts to brainstorm on the way forward and future of the economy.
The Nobel laureate made the call when he paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja. According to Soyinka, the conference became necessary to enable experts diagnose the problems currently facing the country and make necessary recommendations for government to get the economy out of the woods. He said: “I agree with those who say the economy is bad. It is obvious and it is so bad. I think the Presidency should call an emergency economic conference where experts will be enlightened. “We really need an emergency economic conference, bringing experts together to march the nation forward. I think the economy is not encouraging. Quite frankly, I think most economists will agree with this.” Don’t wait to see a bonanza economy While urging Nigerians to be patient with the present administration, the Nobel laureate urged them not to expect an end to the present hardship as it would linger for a long time. “Don’t wait to see a bonanza economy in the next few months to a year. Recovery is going to take time. But at the same time, we have to rely on the objective analysis of experts to tell the government when it gets bad, which might compound the problem and ultimately left the people as victims. “At the beginning, this cabinet had no Culture but had Information ministry. We had to scream, before the Ministry of Culture later came,” Soyinka said. Cautions on human rights abuse Asked to rate the performance of Buhari’s administration, he said though it might be too early to assess the administration’s performance, it would be right for the government to recognize the provisions of the law and constitution of the land to avoid violation of the fundamental human rights of people. He said: “My attitude to the performance of the present administration is that the rule of the law should be followed. I belong to any government which is very patient to getting results. I have a very clear idea of governance tempo. “If that goal is attained by constitutional means, if nothing else, it would have moved this nation forward. “The tempo of motion, for me is very reasonable. For me, I would say more than reasonable. But on the human right side, we have to watch very carefully to see if that can be achieved without forfeiting the fundamental human rights of people, which form the basis we derive from citizenship. “I will say, while the human right is respected, governance should move on, which I believe most Nigerians approve. “What is going on now is an exposure of open robbery in their faces, while the government should damn the consequences of its action, with ethical rigor without minding whose ox is gored. “Government, for me, is a very complicated matter and there is a lot of debris to be cleared. Maybe, we need to be a little bit more patient to see what the administration will do.

STB-NEWS:Naira depreciates further to N385/$, N505/£ in parallel market click to read more

The naira on Wednesday depreciated further to N385 per dollar in the parallel market as demand for foreign exchange intensified in the market. This implies the naira has depreciated by N60 against the dollar this week in the parallel market, when compared with the closing exchange rate of N325 per dollar Friday last week. The currency however remained stable at the official inter-bank foreign exchange market as the inter-bank rate closed N199.34. Thus the gap between the inter-bank and parallel market rates widened to N185.66 per dollar from N127.53 Friday last week. STB NEWS investigation also reveals that the naira depreciated against the British Pounds to N505 per pounds in the parallel market implying N65 depreciation

STB-NEWS:Anita finally divorces Oyakhilome

Lawyers to Anita, the former wife of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, the founder of Christ Embassy, have said that she had finalized her divorce to the preacher, adding that she was no longer a part of, or involved in, the church, also known as Believers LoveWorld Inc. Anita Ebhodaghe, formerly Anita Oyakhilome, a pioneer member of Christ Embassy, where she rose to become a pastor, got married to Oyakhilome in 1991, and have two daughters. A statement by her solicitors, Attwaters Jameson Hill, said the divorce was finalized on February 8 and hinted that she had dropped Oyahkilome from her name, while also severing all ties with the church. The statement, published on the United Kingdom-based law firm’s website reads: “We have been requested by Anita

Ex-NIMASA boss appears in court over N2.6bn fraud

Lagos—A  Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, was, yesterday, told how former Managing Director of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, allegedly disbursed the N2.6 billion stolen by him.

Akpobolokemi, who was accused of defrauding the Federal Government to the tune of N795.2 million, was arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Buba alongside three others, Captain Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Governor Juan and three companies, namely Blockz and Stonz Limited, Kenzo Logistics Limited and Al-Kenzo Logistic Limited.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the charge had claimed that the accused persons converted a total of N2,658,957,666 between December 23, 2013 and May 28 this year to their personal use. The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

EFCC, which opened trial yesterday, called its first witness, Teslim Ajuwon, who is the Compliance Officer at Zenith Bank and responsible for enquiries from regulatory agencies such as the EFCC, Police, NDLEA, among others.

Assault on journalist: Lagos NUJ files N500m lawsuit against customs

The Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) has filed a N500 million criminal suit against the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, over the brutal assault on one Yomi Olomofe, a journalist at Seme border post of the NCS last year.

It will be recalled that the Badagry based journalist was severely beaten on June 22, 2015 by hoodlums believed to be working for the NCS at Seme border and left him in a pool of blood at a refuse dump.

In a fundamental rights suit filed by Mr. Jiti Ogunye on behalf of the NUJ and the brutalised journalist, the applicant is asking for N500 million as special and exemplary damages for the violation of the applicant’s rights. Read more

‘Dwindling economy shows Buhari not prepared to serve Nigerians’

ABAKALIKI—A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain in Ebonyi State, Mr. Abia Onyike, yesterday, stressed that the constant blame being heaped on former President Goodluck Jonathan over the state of economy by the Federal Government was a reflection of its unpreparedness to provide quality services to Nigerians.

Briefing newsmen in Abakaliki on the state of nation, Onyike stated that the Buhari-led administration was yet to make any new or original impact on the economy of the nation, apart from buck-passing and uncoordinated anti-corruption crusade.

According to him, the Federal Government has compounded its credibility problem by disobeying court orders, which equally portrayed it as “anarchic and syndicalist.”

He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately set up a non-partisan economic recovery team made up of astute economic and financial wizards with the mandate to rescue the country from imminent economic retrogression.

“All hands must be on deck. The APC government should start providing qualitative governance and take steps to reduce political tension. The uncoordinated anti-corruption crusade is becoming controversial and Nigerians are getting fed up with the politics of buck-passing.

Pipeline vandals disguise as scavengers, use garbage trucks

LAGOS—Five suspected pipeline vandals, said to be on the wanted list of the Joint Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, have been arrested with two dane guns, 23 live cartridges and 23 vehicles used to transport siphoned products recovered from them.
The arrest, as gathered, was made Sunday after a shoot-out which lasted about 15 minutes at Wawa area of Arepo, Ogun State.

Coalition of rights groups condemns Abia appeal decision

UMUAHIA—COALITION for Civil Societies for Credible Election, CCSCE, has condemned what it called “the spate of controversial, incoherent and varying judgments coming from the Court of Appeal,” noting that the trend was “worrisome and disturbing.”
The coalition called on the relevant judiciary authorities to ensure that the trend was stopped to restore the integrity of the nation’s judiciary.

Gov Ortom, commissioner, BSUTH boss differ on Lassa fever outbreak

MAKURDI—Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state, his Health Commissioner, Dr. Cecilia Ojabo and the Chief Medical Director, CMD, of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, Prof. Orkugah Malu, yesterday disagreed over the purported outbreak of Lassa fever in the state.
Speaking to reporters yesterday in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, the Commissioner for Health stated that the state at the moment was free of the viral disease.

Poland summons German ambassador over politicians' comments

The Polish foreign ministry has criticised German politicians for what it calls "anti-Polish" comments but has given no details of which ones.

However, both the German president of the European Parliament and the German EU commissioner have been sharply critical of Poland's new government.

The German ambassador has been summoned to the Polish foreign ministry.

The conservative and staunchly Catholic Law and Justice party won elections in October with a majority.

It became the first party to be able to govern alone since democracy was restored to Poland in 1989.
'Putinisation'

A newly enacted media law gives control of Polish public radio and TV to a national media council close to the government.

Analysis: Bayelsa poll: The drama of how Dickson won

HISTORY beckons on incumbent Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa after the keenly contested governorship election in the predominantly riverine state.

Dickson, fondly called ‘Countryman Governor’ had maintained a commanding lead in the state governorship election since December 5, 2015 when he clinched six out of the seven councils in the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC. His victory dance was, however, put in abeyance pending the conclusion of the election in units and constituencies that election results were not produced on December 5.

Arms scandal: Osoba group disowns Falae over N100m donation

ABEOKUTA—The Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Ogun State has broken its silence over the controversial N100 million allegedly collected  by its National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae from the former Chairman Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,, Chief Tony Anenih, saying, contrary to Falae’s claims of distributing the money to state chapters of the party, it did not get any money from him

RRS nab 11 over National Theatre attacks

LAGOS—Operatives of the Rapid Respond Squad, RRS, of the Lagos State Police Command, weekend, arrested 11 suspected members of a robbery gang that specialized in attacking fun seekers at the National Theatre and other parts of Ijora area of the state.
ARRESTED: Some of the suspects arrested in connection with the robberies at the National Theatre and Ijora area of Lagos State.

IPOB raises alarm over deteriorating health of Nnamdi Kanu

Worried by  the deteriorating health of its incarcerated leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, in the cell of the Department of State Service, DSS, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has raised an alarm, accusing the  DSS of denying him medical treatment several times, claiming that attempts by his doctors to attend to him  have been  rebuffed by the DSS.
Addressing newsmen, yesterday, in Nnewi, IPOB  Media and Publicity Officer, Mr. Emma Powerful alleged that the Federal Government through the DSS has perfected plans to systematically kill Kanu in the DSS  cell by denying him   doctors’ attention and subjecting him to torture on daily basis.

Nnamdi Kanu being totured and to be "killed secretly' by DSS - IPOB

This whole thing is starting to get serious.
The Igbo's are getting restless since the arrest of of Nnamdi KANU and now they think he is being tortured and to ae killed by the DSS . The Indigenous people of Biafra said that Nnamdi is really sick and needs medical attention. The cabel reports..



“Information getting to us now is that the director of DSS and Buhari are planning to kill some Igbo-Biafrans working for the DSS in other to secretly execute Nnamdi Kanu,” it alleged in a statement published on its website “Biafra Herald,” on Thursday.

Nnamdi Kanu never apologised to Buhari – MASSOB, IPOB

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has described as blatant lies, the claim that its incarcerated leader and founder of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdui Kanu has expressed regrets and apologized to President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Goodluck Jonathan and Igbo elders for his alleged uncomplimentary remarks and statements against them to facilitate his release.
In a statement signed by IPOB National Coordinator Mr. Chidiebere Onwudiwe and Media and Publicity officer, comrade Emma Powerful, titled Nnamdi Kanu never apologized for his release, IPOB said it totally dismissed the publication, describing it as “the machinations of the Directorate of State Security, DSS to save its face having been disgraced by the court with granting of Kanu bail.

SEE How A Lady Ran Mad, Walks Naked After She Was Scammed By Relatives[GRAPHIC PHOTOS]

Don’t know how true this story is but this has gone viral since it
was shared online by a Facebook user. According to the poster, this woman
based in London had been sending money home (Ghana) to her relatives to build
house for her ..only for her to return home and discover that no piece of land was
bought for her talk more of building a house in her name. She immediately turned mad after
the incident paraded herself Unclad on the streets of Ghana -as bystanders videoed the incident.
This reportedly happened on Sunday, December 20,
2015….Here are screenshots gotten from the video

Leading German Journalist Admits CIA ‘Bribed’ Him and Other Leaders of the Western ‘Press’ to Provoke War

Udo Ulfkotte, a former editor of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (which is one of Germany’s largest newspapers), has decided to go public about the corruption of himself and the rest of the Western ‘news’ media, because he finds that this corruption is bringing Europe too close to a nuclear war against Russia, which he concludes the U.S. aristocracy that controls the CIA wants to bring about, or else to bring closer to the brink.

He told Russian Television:



I’ve been a journalist for about 25 years, and I’ve been educated to lie, to betray, and not to tell the truth to the public. … The German and American media tries to bring war to the people in Europe, to bring war to Russia.

This is a point of no return, and I am going to stand up and say … it is not right what I have done in the past, to manipulate people, to make propaganda against Russia, and it is not right what my colleagues do, and have done in the past, because they are bribed to betray the people not only in Germany, all over Europe.

I am very fearful of a new war in Europe, and I don’t like to have this situation again, because war is never coming from itself, there is always people who push for war, and this is not only politicians, it is journalists too. … We have betrayed our readers, just to push for war. … I don’t want this anymore, I’m fed up with this propaganda.

We live in a banana republic, and not in a democratic country where we have press freedom. …



The German media, especially, my colleagues …, day by day, write against the Russians, [these journalists] who are in transatlantic organizations, and who are supported by the United States to do so. …
I became ‘honorary citizen of the state of Oklahoma,’ … Why? Because I write pro-American. I was supported by the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA.

Why? Because I am pro-American. I am fed up with it; I don’t want to do it anymore; and so I have just written a book, not to earn money, no, it will cause a lot of trouble for me. [I wrote it instead] to give the people in this country, Germany, in Europe, and all over the world, just a glimpse of … what goes on behind the closed doors. …



[4:40 on the video] Most of the journalists you see in foreign countries … European or American journalists …, like me in the past, are so-called non-official cover. … Non-official cover means what?

You do work for an intelligence agency, … but … when they [the public] find out that you are not only a journalist but a spy too, they [the CIA] will never say this was one of our guys. … So, I have helped them in several situations, and I feel ashamed for that. … I feel ashamed that I … was bribed by billionaires, I was bribed by the Americans, not to report exactly the truth.



I was just imagining in my car while I was driving to this interview, I just try to work out in my brain what would have happened if I had written a pro-Russian article, in the Frankfurter Algemeine.

Well, … we were all educated to write pro-European, pro-American, but please not pro-Russian. … But this is not what I understand for democracy, for press freedom, I am very sorry for that. …



[6:30] Germany is still a kind of a colony of the United States, you’ll see that in many points; like for example, the majority of Germany do not want to have nukes in our country, but we still have American nukes; so, we are still a kind of an American colony, and, being a colony, it is very easy to approach young journalists through (and what is very important here is) transatlantic organizations.

All journalists from respected and big German newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, they are all members or guests of those big transatlantic organizations, and in these transatlantic organizations you are approached to be pro-American, and … they invite you for seeing the United States, they pay for that, they pay all your expenses and everything.

So, you are bribed, you get more and more corrupt, because they make you good contacts.  … So, you make friends, you think they are your friends and cooperate with them. They ask you, ‘will you do me this favor,’ ‘will you do me that favor,’ so your brain is more and more brainwashed, through these guys. …



Is this only the case with German journalists? No, I think it is especially the case with British journalists, because they have a much closer relationship. It is especially the case with Israeli journalists.

Of course with French journalists. … It is the case for Australians, [with] journalists from New Zealand, from Taiwan, well, there is many countries, … like Jordan for example. …



[9:17] Sometimes the intelligence agencies, they come to your office, and want you to write an article. … I just remember [for example] that the German foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst — it is just a sister organization of the Central Intelligence Agency, see it was founded by the American intelligence agency — … came to my office, and they wanted me to write an article about Libya and about Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

They gave me all these secret informations, and they just wanted me to sign the article with my name. I did that. It was published in the Frankfurter Algemeine, … it was about how he secretly tried to build a poison gas factory, … it was a story that was printed worldwide days later, but I had no information on that [the CIA wrote it].



[11:25] A very good example [what happens] if you say no [to the CIA]: … So [regarding the particular employee who said no], what happened is that he lost his job.

[12:40] Six times my house was searched, … I have [had] three house attacks, [but] I have no children, so … it’s worse for the truth [for other journalists, whose family can be threatened, not only themselves].
Ulfkotte has become a turncoat. He had originally been a conservative Christian German, who opposed the increasing presence in Germany of Muslims. He then came to feel so guilty as a German having discovered as a journalist the role that a major German company played in helping Saddam Hussein to gas Kurds, but which his newspaper never published, so that Ulfkotte briefly converted to Islam. Perhaps he was dealing with the shame he felt about his not bucking his newspaper’s top management by simply ignoring them and going public about what he had found, his letting it remain hidden.

But then, he co-founded a Christian peace-movement against the Islamic extremism emerging in Germany. And now, he has come out with a book which argues that the U.S. is actually the biggest of all threats to peace. The book is available only in German, Gekaufte Journalisten, meaning “Purchased Journalists.”

Now that he has abandoned not just the anti-Islamic but the anti-Russian elements of traditional German culture, he no longer is welcomed among the conservative Germans who had helped him to build, and then, for decades, to advance, his successful long career as a ‘journalist,’ but which he now calls “propagandist.”

He is, perhaps, a German equivalent to America’s Kevin Phillips, the former Nixonian (inventor of “the Southern strategy”) who then became a critic of the very same aristocracy he had previously so well served while in office under Nixon.