CCT Rules It Has Jurisdiction To Proceed With Saraki’s Trial..........

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has ruled that it has jurisdiction in the case of alleged falsification of assets brought against Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

The Tribunal says the natural thing to do is to proceed with the trial in spite of a request for an adjournment by counsel to the Senate President, Mr Paul Usoro.
“We adjourned to today to commence with trial. Even if the defence intends to appeal the judgment, it should not stop the proceedings of trial today, provided the prosecution is ready to proceed.
“In view of the foregoing we hold that trial shall proceed for hearing today and we are ready to take the witnesses,” the Tribunal said.

Counsel to the Senate President, Mr Paul Usoro, had asked for an adjournment when the trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on alleged falsification of assets resumed at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on Tuesday.
He argued that on the basis of the fact that an appeal has been entered before the appellate court, the defendant filed a motion of stay of proceedings which is before the Registrar of the court.
Mr Usoro said that the process of appeal has been transmitted to the CCT and the record of appeal is before the tribunal.

Alison-Madueke returns to UK court over seized cash........

 

Ex-minister to know fate on £27,000 found in her home
 
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Diezani  Alison-Madueke will today return to the Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London to answer for money laundering and bribery allegations.
She was first arraigned in the court last October.
Mrs Alison-Madueke was arrested along with four others by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA). She was granted bail  and told to come back today for a decision to be taken on the £27,000 seized cash and other charges made against her.

The court ruled in October 2015 that the cash can be held for six months before she is arraigned after investigations.
The court also granted the order that she should remain in London while investigations last.
The NCA, which leads the UK law enforcement’s fight to cut serious and organised crime, is working in league with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the probe of the former minister.
While Mrs Alison-Madueke was battling arrest in London, her Abuja home was raided by the EFCC while her partners were stalked by the Interpol in Switzerland.

Saraki, Ibori, Messi, others named in secret assets leak..........

Senate President: it’s my wife’s family assets

Senate President Bukola Saraki was battling yesterday to fend off what looked like a fresh allegation about his assets. He said he fully complied with the provisions of the law on declaration of assets by public officers.
The former Kwara State governor was reacting to the claim contained in the Panama Papers, a huge trove of documents by the offshore provider, Mossack Fonseca, and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that he failed to declare assets belonging to his wife, Mrs Toyin Saraki, in secret offshore territories. , He noted that he has in his various assets declarations included properties owned individually by himself and his wife.
 
Saraki is not the only prominent Nigerian named in the document. There are also former Delta State Governor James Ibori, Saraki’s brother Laolu, his associate Obi Asika and Olufela Ibidapo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s associates are named. So are South African President Jacob Zuma, soccer star Lionel Messi and son of former Ghanian President John Kufuor .
Saraki’s statement, signed by his Special Adviser (Media and Public Affairs) Yusuph Olaniyonu, said the property in question formed part of his wife’s family assets.

Confusion in Bayelsa APC over suspension of Sylva, 4 others........

THE All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State was at the weekend thrown into confusion following the purported suspension of former governor Timipre Sylva and other members of the executive committee of the party.
Sylva was allegedly suspended for “anti- party activities and attempt to frustrate the change agenda of the Buhari administration in the state.”

A faction of the party accused him of holding clandestine meetings with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in contravention of the party’s constitution.
The group said it suspended Sylva with the vice chairman (Bayelsa Central), Joseph Fafi; Publicity Secretary, Panebi Fortune; Organising Secretary, Tonye Okio, and a member.
They also accused Sylva of trying to form a parallel state executive in contravention of Article 21 of the party constitution which stipulates that factionalisation or creating parallel party organs at any level is punishable by the extremists of means.

Wike is a danger to democracy, says Amaechi.........

•Minister brands Ikwerre LGA elections inconclusive
•Says gov’s thugs carted away the materials before they were collated
Transportation Minister Amaechi yesterday called Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State a threat to democracy and free and fair elections in the state.
Amaechi, the immediate past governor of the state, cited the re-run in his Ikwerre Local Government Area (LGA) which he said was inconclusive “because thugs sent by Wike violently disrupted the collation of votes for the LGA.”
 
He was reacting to allegations by Wike in THISDAY yesterday in which the governor claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was plotting to release some of the results in the eight local government areas in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Amaechi dismissed the governor’s allegation as riotous, disgraceful and shameful.
“His resort to blackmail, threats and more violence is a clear danger to the practise of democracy, to free and fair elections in Rivers State,” the Minister’s media office said in a statement.
It quoted the minister as saying: “You would recall that Wike has been threatening INEC and INEC officials. Before the re-run elections, he threatened INEC officials coming to conduct the elections to write their wills before coming as if they were coming to die in Rivers State.

Fuel scarcity to end in two weeks –NNPC..........

•Says crude to arrive Kaduna refinery in 10 days
•FG allocates 58.27% PMS import to marketers
Motorists may have to endure two more weeks of fuel scarcity, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
The organisation said yesterday that the scarcity which has paralysed socio-economic life in many parts of the country for the fourth  week running, could be effectively over in two weeks time when the Kaduna Refining and Petrol-Chemical Company (KRPC) is scheduled to resume production.
 
The plant has not been producing on account of the vandalisation of the pipelines supplying it crude oil.
The pipelines have now been repaired, and the Group Executive Director (GED) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Off-Stream Sector, NNPC, Alhaji Bello Rabiu Babura, declared yesterday that all is now set for the resumption of production at the plant.
Besides, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has decided to give 58.27 percent of its total supply of  Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the second quarter of this year to the oil marketing companies.
The balance of 41.73 per cent will go to the NNPC.

Budget: Senators, Reps split over details.......

•Principal Officers angry with Saraki, Dogara
•There is no division among us’ –Senate Leader Ndume
Like President Muhammadu Buhari, many members of the National Assembly, including some principal officers, are demanding from the leadership of the national legislature, details of the 2016 budget just approved.
President Buhari is insisting on seeing   the details approved by the National Assembly before appending his signature to the budget.
 
However, it emerged yesterday that the budget details are known only to a few members of the Appropriation Committees of both chambers.
This has not gone down well with other National Assembly members who are shocked that some legislators are more favoured than others in the affairs of the legislature.
The Nation gathered that many principal officers are angry with Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara for not calling the chairmen of the Appropriation committees, Alhaji  Danjuma Goje (Senate) and Jibrin Abdulmumin (Reps) to order.
Senate Leader Mohammed Ali Ndume denied last night that there was any division among National Assembly members on the issue.

Another ritualists’ den uncovered in Ogun.................

• Police arrest two suspects  
The Police in Ogun State yesterday uncovered a suspected ritualists’ den  at Iyana-Ilogbo, Otta in Ogun State.
Two men were arrested at the den—an abandoned Ayokunnu Filling Station, a few metres from the Iyana-Ilogbo bus stop on the Lagos/Abeokuta Express Road.
 
Found by the police and an inquisitive crowd that descended on the scene soon after the news of the discovery broke were what looked like the remains of a male victim, clothes, shoes, wigs, a matchete and bags.
The suspects’ names were given as Babatunde Taofeek and Hammed Hassan.
The Nation learnt that two persons who had initially been taken to the den to be killed, escaped and effort by the ritualists to recapture them failed.
The failed recapture of the would-be victims attracted passers-by who swooped on the place and contacted the Police at their Sango Otta Station.
Angry residents broke down parts of the building which led to the discovery of decomposing and decomposed human parts.

MAN CALLS FELLOW MAN WIZARD BECAUSE HE HAS A BIG BREAST...

Nollywood News

A Facebook user, John Kennedy, said Holy Spirit arrested this man during a recent crusade. While sharing the news, he wrote:
 
“He was arrested by the Holy Spirit in a crusade. Witchcraft agent, he’s a man. Please guys be very careful with the type of girl or woman you call or sleep with , some are not real women, nor girls, but men

Opinion: Enough with the charade, #Olajumoke is not a model, neither is she super

The Other Style...

Do I have to introduce Olajumoke Orisaguna to anyone?
Should I even have to?
After all, she’s been on CNN, The Huffington Post, BBC and Buzzfeed. The proverbial story of the bread seller whose time it is to ‘shine’ and what not. It was fun at first, then it started to get somewhat ridiculous and now, its an outright farce.
Two weeks ago, The Lagos Polo club had it’s annual event and part of this year’s line up, a fashion show was organized with several emerging and high profile designers showing clothes from their latest collections and there, this happened.

 
At the open call casting for the 2015 Lagos Fashion and Design Week, nearly 500 hundred models, a vast majority of whom had been in the industry for at least two years showed up to audition for one of the 75 slots open to models. Less than 20 percent got a slot. That is just a base idea of how competitive runway modelling is.
Of all the kinds of modeling there is out there ( and there are many), runway modeling is the most competitive, second only to advertising editorials in prestige and pay out. But to succeed as a runway model, you must either be well above average height or have a distinctive walk, the latter traditional models train for years to finesse and perfect.