Tiwa Savage’s husband accuses her of infidelity

Tunji Balogun a.k.a Tee Billz has accused his wife, Tiwa Savage of sleeping with top entertainers like Don Jazzy, TuFace, DrSid in a series of allegations he posted on his Instagram page. Tee Billz made the revelations while lamenting about how his wife, Tiwa Savage has not been supportive of his career ever since she became a super star. Note that we are yet to confirm the authenticity of this claim among parties involved.

Lagos girl turns up at a club in this trashy outfit

Lagos girl turns up at a club in this trashy outfit. No Shame: See What A Lady Wore To A Party In Lagos. Sexy orTrashy?

Buhari ‘too slow’ to deliver on promises – Washington Times

In a report written by Ali Abare Abubakar and published by The Washington Times on Sunday, November 8, 2015, titled “Nigerians disenchanted as new president ‘too slow’ to deliver on lofty campaign promises”, the writer examined the efforts and achievements of the present administration and concluded that President Buhari is too slow to deliver on his campaign promises.

President Muhammadu Buhari rode to victory in March on a promise to revive the country’s moribund economy, vanquish Boko Haram terrorists who controlled much of the northeastern part of the country and tackle the pervasive corruption that has stifled development in Africa’s most populous nation.

Five months later, there is growing disenchantment that the president has not delivered on his lofty promises, while taking an unprecedented amount of time just getting his government staffed.

“I think he’s too slow,” said Innocent Lagi, a Buhari ally and former attorney general of Nasarawa State in central Nigeria. “He must have underestimated the problems of the country.”

Six months into office, Mr. Buhari had installed just half of the Cabinet and top-level appointments under his discretion, slowing the former army general’s ability to capitalize on his postelection honeymoon. Recently the Nigerian Senate approved the last of his Cabinet picks, but only after the president admitted he hasn’t figured out exactly which portfolios his new ministers will be given.

Mr. Buhari has complained that the country was “materially and morally vandalized” before he took power, but critics say that his slow start is undercutting the momentum to overhaul the government and economy in Nigeria, which Transparency International ranked as 136th — tied with Russia — among 176 countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index.

“The change was only in the new leadership,” said Mr. Lagi. “The courts, legislature and other institutions like the army, police, etc., have not changed. The president has no powers to fight corruption; the institutions do. He can’t take a corrupt person to court. He can’t arrest a corrupt person. The reality is that the country hasn’t moved forward.”

The Nigerian newspaper The Guardian editorialized recently that, “instead of whining and seemingly ruing why he chose to lead at this time, the president should consider the dire situation of the economy as an opportunity to demonstrate that Nigerians did not make a mistake by giving him the job he sought for 12 years.”

The paper continued, “All the citizens want is for him to translate his plethora of sweet promises into policies and programs that would improve their lot. All that Nigerians need now is his performance and not excuses.”

Inaction at the top levels of government has mirrored economic gridlock throughout the country.

Hajiya Hafsat Musa, who runs a small clothing shop in Mararaba, a suburb of the capital of Abuja, said she has been losing money for months because the government has been slow in issuing paychecks. Most of her customers are civil servants, she said.

“My customers no longer patronize me,” said Ms. Musa. “Some of them have not been paid for months. The way the economy runs, if there are no ministers, everything is grounded.”

Her experience is common throughout Nigeria, an oil-rich country that has long failed to live up to its full economic potential. In April, a month before Mr. Buhari took office, unemployment in Nigeria was 7.5 percent. In July, for which the most recent statistics are available, the jobless rate was 8.2 percent, according to government figures.

The Nigerian Labor Congress, the 4 million-member umbrella group for the country’s trade unions, recently reported that about 60,000 Nigerians have lost their jobs in recent months because of a drop in government spending on infrastructure. “It has become critical. We are still lacking answers,” said Congress President Amechi Asugwuni. “We have not seen the plan for infrastructure.”

Mr. Buhari’s defenders said the president is doing the best he can to change patterns that have beset the country for years. Spokesman Alhaji Lai Mohammed of the president’s political party, the All Progressives Congress, noted that Mr. Buhari was the first Nigerian politician to unseat an incumbent president and take over the reins of government in a peaceful transition. Change isn’t easy, he said.

“He’s not slow,” said Mr. Mohammed. “The government is focused; it is methodological. People will say this government does not have ministers, but we are saying this government wants people with proven track records of competence and integrity.”

Mr. Buhari, who headed the country for two years in the mid-1980s after a military coup, defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in a March vote that won praise from the Obama administration and international election officials. Mr. Jonathan became the country’s first sitting president to cede power peacefully, declaring, “Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.”

But it has been a tough slog for the winner since, and when Mr. Buhari has taken decisive action, he has stirred controversy.

The banking sector has shed jobs, for example, because the president ordered government ministries to consolidate their accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeria to curb overly complicated public finances exploited by corrupt bureaucrats.

Analysts said the move — technically called a “treasury single account” policy — was a major step in cracking down on unscrupulous public servants and their friends in the private financial sector.

“TSA is a masterstroke policy of the current government, and the ingenuity behind it must be widely applauded,” said Olusola Adegbite, a law professor at Obafemi Awolowo University. “It is the most potent anti-corruption weapon that would not only cut loose all the fingers of corruption in government, but is also an ingenious policy that will fumigate the banking sector that continues to reek of filth and rot.”

Despite those measures, even Mr. Buhari’s formerly stalwart supporters say the president’s record hasn’t lived up to his rhetoric on cracking down on graft.

“In as much as I want to commend President Buhari on the fight against corruption, I think that the crusade is rather very slow,” said Alex Kwapnoe, an All Progressives Congress member who helped coordinate the president’s political campaign in Plateau State in north-central Nigeria.

“There are a lot of these corrupt former officials left free, and the institutions of the state have the capacity to bring all of them to book,” Mr. Kwapnoe said. “Unless we do that, we will be paying lip service by leaving other persons who were involved in corrupt activities.”

At the Federal Medical Center in Keffi, about an hour’s drive east of Abuja, for example, hospital managers have repeatedly complained that doctors send patients to their private clinics to capture the hospital’s business. The same doctors drive expensive cars and live in big houses despite their modest salaries.

“It’s pretty obvious they are diverting hospital funds into their pockets,” said a member of the Association of Resident Doctors, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution. “We want Buhari to beam his searchlight into the financial activities of the Federal Medical Center.”

Mr. Buhari’s progress against the brutal Boko Haram movement also has been mixed. In the months after they garnered headlines by kidnapping 276 schoolgirls last year, the Islamic extremists ran rampant across northeastern Nigeria, eluding capture and defeating Nigerian forces in skirmishes. Their boldness was a key factor in Mr. Buhari’s victory over Mr. Jonathan.

With his military background, Mr. Buhari has reorganized the army, created safe havens for the more than 2 million Nigerians displaced in the fighting and orchestrated offensives alongside Cameroonian and Chadian troops that have set the terrorists back on their heels.

But Boko Haram fighters are still active. Few believe the president will make good on his pledge to bring an end to the Boko Haram insurgency by the end of the year.

Yakubu Gowon, a former military head of state, told reporters that he believed the Nigerian military eventually would defeat the terrorist group but that the president’s year-end deadline was a mistake.

“I can tell you this: Nobody can really talk about when any particular operation is going to end,” he told a group of Nigerian reporters. “Yes, you can say you target a particular time, but it may finish before that time or it may go slightly beyond. To end it, that is the most important thing.”

Recently, top military officials cited stormy weather and other difficulties in sending forces to remote areas for delaying the progress of their offensive.

To Daniel Abutu, a bus driver in Abuja, the military’s excuses were emblematic of Mr. Buhari’s overall performance.

“How can the military say weather is impeding the fight?” asked Mr. Abutu. “Is it because they have realized it’s no longer feasible for them to deliver as promised?”

The Evil Of National Grazing Reserve Council Bill-- FFK

1. SUDAN DOWNLOADING IN NIGERIA.

"I decided to read a copy of the National Grazing Reserve Council Bill and I was surprised at what I saw.

The Bill creates a council to be chaired by a Chairman to be appointed by the president.

The council shall have the power to take your land anywhere the land is located in the country and then pay you compensation.

Your land, when taken, shall be assigned to herdsmen who shall use your land for grazing purposes.

They shall bring cows to the land and you shall lose the land permanently to those Fulani cattlemen" - OKONKWO AFAMEFUNA, FACEBOOK, 18th APRIL, 2016.

2. YUGOSLAVIA DOWNLOADING IN NIGERIA.

"I decided to read a copy of the National Grazing Reserve Commision Bill and I was surprised at what I saw.

The Bill creates a commission to be chaired by a Chairman to be appointed by the president, to be confirmed by the senate.

The commission shall have the power to take your land anywhere the land is located in the country and then pay you compensation.

Your land, when taken, shall be assigned to herdsmen who shall use your land for grazing purposes.

They shall bring cows to the land and you shall lose the land permanently to those cattlemen.

If you feel that the commission was not right to take your land, you can go to court but before you go to court, you must first of all notify the federal attorney general of your intention to sue the commission.

Apart from notifying, you must get the consent and authority of the Federal Attorney General before you can sue.

So that means that if the Attorney General refuses to give his consent to the suit, you have lost your land forever to the herdsmen.

And this law, when passed, shall apply to the whole country so it means that your land in the village or anywhere is not safe.

The National Grazing Reserve Commission would have the power to take away your land from you anytime they want and pay you whatever they want as compensation (even when you don't want to sell, and remember that for you to get compensation, you must have documents showing or proving ownership).

So I think that we all in the South West, South South and South East must rise up and reject this Bill. We must do all things to force our national Assembly members from passing that bill into law.

That bill is a deliberate attempt to take our lands and hand the land over to the Fulani cattlemen since it is only the fulanis that rear cattle in Nigeria.

That law, when passed, shall fulfil the directive of Uthman Dan Fodio and other northern leaders to take over other parts of Nigeria.

I implore you to use all available means to implore your senator and Rep not to pass that law.

That law will destroy Nigeria.
All over the world, ranches are established and used to rear cattle.

The farmers buy land and put there cattle there. There is no country where the land of the citizens are compulsorily acquired and given to others.

This is evil, and designed to favour the Fulanis where the president comes from.
We must resist the passage of that bill into law to save Nigeria, and to protect our future generations" - EMPEROR GABRIEL OGBONNAYA, FACEBOOK, 18TH APRIL, 2016.

3. LEBANON AND ZIMBABWE DOWNLOADING IN NIGERIA.

"This National Grazing Bill if passed into law will just mark the beginning of apartheid in our country. When the government of Zimbabwe collected land from the white people who naturalised there the whole world worked against President Robert Mugabe. Sanctions were stiffened against his regime even though the whites in Zimbabwe were not African by origin. In our country today there are people that are not Nigerians by origin and these people are making laws to take over our inheritance. This nation will burn once this law is passed" -DURU COLLINS, FACEBOOK, 18th APRIL, 2016.

4. SYRIA AND IRAQ DOWNLOADING IN NIGERIA.

"And if they are still in any doubt about where all this is heading in the Nigerian context they should consider the following.

On December 30th 1964, Mallam Bala Garba told the West African Pilot newspaper that:

"the conquest to the sea is now in sight. When our god-sent Ahmadu Bello said some years ago that our conquest will reach the sea shores of Nigeria, some idiots in the South were doubting its possibilities. Today have we not reached the sea? Lagos is reached. It remains Port-Harcourt. It must be conquered and taken.”

This is an eloquent expression of radical Islam, with its pervasive use of violence as a tool of conquest and subjugation, in its purest and most obvious form.

Inspired and equipped with this Janjaweed philosophy and ethos, the whole of core northern Nigeria was conquered by Sheik Usman Dan Fodio through the use of terror and by the power of the sword in the name of jihad. Millions of innocent non-Muslims were cut to pieces in the process.

Given the activities of Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen in our country today it appears that some in our shores are still interested in implementing that satanic agenda.

They wish to continue where Usman Dan Fodio stopped and they wish to "dip the Koran in the Atlantic ocean".

Their latest attempt is the introduction and proposal of what is known as the Cattle Grazing Act which will give the Fulani herdsmen the right to claim other peoples land all over the country and which will empower them by law to create their own settlements and communities in the territory of others.

Worse still under that law the government will be compelled to fund those settlements and put all that they need in terms of infrastructure in place for them. That is why our Minister of Agriculture is now talking about importing Brazilian grass for the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle.

This subtle and exceptionally brilliant attempt to infiltrate and conquer by guile and assimilation reminds me of the frightful laws that were put in place in the old wild western prairies of 19th century America.

Those laws gave the white settlers rights over the lands of the indigenous Red Indians and saw the Indians themselves subjected to genocide and ethnic cleansing and herded into barren reservations that were not fit for human habitation.

It was in this way that the "wild west" was conquered and the once proud and noble war-like Indian tribes of the western prairies were subjugated and subdued.

Sadly our legislators in the National Assembly from the south and the Middle simply do not appreciate and cannot comprehend the serious implications of what they are doing by supporting this evil legislation and neither will the consequences of their naivety and folly be suffered by their constituents until it is far too late.

If that law is ever passed and implemented, two years from that time we will regret it deeply as a nation because it will result in nothing but conflict, chaos and strife between the Fulani herdsmen and settlers on the one hand and the local indigenous population on the other.

The tragedy that unfolded in Jos, Plateau state between the indigenous Christian Beroms and the settler Muslim Fulani for many years is a graphic example of what will be replicated all over the south and the Middle Belt between the Fulani and the various local indigenous populations if that law is ever passed and implemented.

As a matter of fact it will be far worse than anything that Jos ever saw. The Cattle Grazing Act will not result in enhancing unity and peace but instead it will result in division, bloodshed, carnage and chaos"- FEMI FANI-KAYODE, ''THE OUTLAWS OF ISLAM", PREMIUM TIMES, 25TH APRIL, 2016.

The greatest evil that we are confronted with in Nigeria today is this National Grazing Bill. It is more evil than Boko Haram.

It will do more harm than Boko Haram and it will result in open war and the final disintegration of Nigeria. We must stop it from being made into law.

There are some things that are bigger than politics and this is one of them.

We must all stand together regardless of our political affiliation and stop this Trojan horse from being foisted upon us by those that seek to subjugate and conquer us.

May God help our people and our country and may He deliver us from evil.

China Grants Fayose's Request Denies Buhari Loan As Revealed By FG

Buhari returns from China
The Presidency on Saturday said President Muhammadu Buhari did not sign any loan deal with the Peoples Republic of China during his just-concluded one-week working visit to the country. This is coming shortly after Gov Ayodele Fayose appealed to chinese authorities not to grant president Buhari any loan


The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, gave the clarification in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH.

Ahead of Buhari’s trip which started last Sunday, there were media reports that he would sign a $2bn loan deal with China during the visit as the Federal Government sought funds to finance the over N2tn budget deficit.

Reuters had reported that Adesina confirmed that loan agreement would be signed but he could not say how much until it was signed.

But the presidential spokesman told our correspondent on Saturday that there was no iota of truth in the report.

“There was no loan deal during the President’s visit to China. All that is coming are investments into Nigeria,” he stated.

At the conclusion of the visit on Friday, the Presidency had said the President’s trip yielded over $6bn additional investments for Nigeria.



The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists.

Shehu said the President believed that the agreements concluded with the Chinese during the visit would have a huge and positive impact on key sectors of the Nigerian economy, including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.

He said, “In the power sector, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State.

“In the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55m for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.

“A total of $1bn is to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

“For the housing sector, both companies also sealed a $250m deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storeyed high rise complex and a $2.5bn agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project.”

According to the presidential spokesman, other agreements announced and signed during the visit included $1bn for the establishment of a hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.

He added that the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at $200m for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.

“An agreement valued at $363m for the establishment of a comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park in Kogi State was also announced at the Nigeria-China business forum.

“Other agreements undergoing negotiations include a $500m project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a $25m facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited.

“About 100 Nigerian businesses and 300 Chinese firms participated in the Nigeria-China business forum, which took place a day after President Buhari began his visit to China,” Shehu added.

“Buhari Is A National Embarrassment,” Cardinal John Onaiyekan Blasts The President

Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan has criticized President Muhammadu Buhari over disregarding court orders, demanding the release of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu.

He said: “There is no sign that Nigeria has the president. The problem President Buhari has is that many Nigerians want to continue as they were doing before and they want every­body else to change, but not themselves.”

“Democracy is all about the rule of law. Three times he has disobeyed court orders in less than a year in office. “Disobedience to court orders by those who should protect and ensure its compliance slides the Nation to anarchy.

“It is wrong to undermine the Constitution of Nigeria which is the bases of the Nigerian nation and expects people not to resist such via protesting. For those supporting president can you please justify why he has refused to obey court orders?

The prominent cleric added: “My dear President Buhari, it will be in the best interest of the nation that you obey court orders and apologize to the nation for the embarrassments you have caused us which have led to peaceful demonstrations in virtually major parts of Southern Nigeria.

“You should in the best interest of the nation set up a truth and reconciliation committee and compensate families of those killed. You should have obeyed as ordered by the court; ask your DSS to obey court orders, release Nnamdi Kanu and tender an unreserved apology to him for the embarrassments you have caused him, his wife, family, and millions of his followers by detaining him and infringing on his rights without good reason.”

Kanu was arrested in Lagos in October on conspiracy and terrorism charges, which were later dropped.

Dollar To Crash By70% As Buhari Signs Currency Deal With China

President Muhammadu Buhari and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele moved closer to actualizing their promise to strengthen the naira against the United States dollars by signing a landmark currency deal with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd on Tuesday in Beijing, China.

The agreement will allow Nigerian traders and businesses, which imports mainly from China conclude their transactions in the Chinese currency, the Renminbi (Yuan), instead of the dollar.

It was further gathered that the new agreement would see Nigeria-China trades, which accounts for over 70 percent of imports into Nigeria, concluded in the Yuan.

Until now over 90 percent of international trades between Nigeria and the world is done in dollars, and in the process putting so much pressure on the naira. Nigeria imports almost all it needs from the West, Middle East and Asia.

The CBN is expected to diversify a huge chunk of Nigeria’s foreign reserve from the dollars to the Yuan to perfect the agreement.

“It means that the renminbi (Yuan) is free to flow among different banks in Nigeria, and the renminbi has been included in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria,” Lin Songtian, director general of the African affairs department of China’s foreign ministry, told reporters in Beijing a few minutes after the agreement was signed between the Governors of the nations’ reserve banks in the presence of President Buhari and President Xi Jingping of China, who is hosting Buhari and top Nigerian officials to a state visit.

Lin said a framework on currency swaps has been agreed with Nigeria, making it easier to settle trade deals in Yuan. China has signed currency swap deals with countries ranging from Kazakhstan to Argentina as it promotes wider use of its Yuan.

THEWILL exclusively gathered that Nigeria would become the clearinghouse for Yuan denominated transactions for the whole of Africa following the agreement.

Beijing also signed agreements to develop infrastructure in Nigeria, part of a drive to deepen its ties with Africa. It has offered Nigeria a loan worth $6 billion to fund infrastructure projects.

Also, ICBC signed a $2 billion loan deal with Dangote group, the company owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, to fund two cement plants it plans to build, Lin told Reuters.

China’s official Xinhua news agency cited President Xi as telling Buhari that there was huge potential for economic cooperation, naming oil refining and mining.

Nigeria is also considering issuing Panda bonds (mainly Yuan denominated) as against euro bonds because they are cheaper.

Pope Tells Atheist: You Do Not Have To Believe In God To Go To Heaven

In comments likely to enhance his progressive reputation, Pope Francis has written a long, open letter to the founder of La Repubblica newspaper, Eugenio Scalfari, stating that non-believers would be forgiven by God if they followed their consciences.

Responding to a list of questions published in the paper by Mr Scalfari, who is not a Roman Catholic, Francis wrote: “You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience.

“Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience.” 

Robert Mickens, the Vatican correspondent for the Catholic journal The Tablet, said the pontiff’s comments were further evidence of his attempts to shake off the Catholic Church’s fusty image, reinforced by his extremely conservative predecessor Benedict XVI. “Francis is a still a conservative,” said Mr Mickens. “But what this is all about is him seeking to have a more meaningful dialogue with the world.”


In a welcoming response to the letter, Mr Scalfari said the Pope’s comments were “further evidence of his ability and desire to overcome barriers in dialogue with all”.

In July, Francis signalled a more progressive attitude on sexuality, asking: “If someone is gay and is looking for the Lord, who am I to judge him?”

Ronaldo sets TWO new Champions League records

The Portugal international hit his third-hat-trick of this season's competition to fire Real Madrid past Wolfsburg and into the semi-finals

Who said Cristiano Ronaldo was past his best?

The Portugal international rode to Real Madrid's rescue once again as his hat-trick secured a 3-2 victory over Wolfsburg to fire the Spanish club into the Champions League semi-finals.

Zinedine Zidane's men trailed following a shock 2-0 defeat in Germany but Ronaldo struck three times to pull Madrid through.

And in the process, the 31-year-old set two new Champions League records.

He his hat-trick was his third in the competition this season - no other player can match that - nor can anyone else say they have scored 15 or more goals in the Champions League in two different campaigns.

Nigeria using UK aid to persecute president's political foes rather to fight Boko Haram

Hundreds of millions of pounds of British foreign aid given to Nigeria to help combat Boko Haram terrorists is instead being used to fund a witch-hunt against opposition politicians, it is being claimed.

Britain has committed to spending £860 million in foreign aid to Nigeria, which now boasts Africa’s largest economy, to help support the country’s efforts to crush Boko Haram terror group, which has been responsible for a spate of outrages, including the kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls.

But Western officials are now raising concerns that the government of the country’s recently elected leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, is misusing the funds to persecute political opponents.

Since Mr Buhari came to power last July, a number of prominent members of the former ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have been arrested and imprisoned without charge. Among those detained was the party’s official spokesperson.

Most of the arrests have been sanctioned by the government-controlled Economic and Financial Crime Commission, which was set up to tackle corruption and receives funding from the Department for International Development.

But while Mr Buhari’s government continues to use British aid money to target his political opponents, it is proving less effective at tackling the Islamist-run Boko Haram terrorist group.

Much of the aid Britain provides to Nigeria is aimed at helping the country’s security forces to become more effective at tackling Boko Haram, which boasts of its links with Islamic State (Isil) and achieved international notoriety two years ago after kidnapping 276 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria two years ago.

Scores of British military personnel – including members of the Special Forces – are based in Nigeria helping to train the military to tackle Boko Haram. But despite Mr Buhari’s pledge during last year’s general election campaign that he would make tackling Boko Haram one of his top priorities, there is growing concern among Western officials that the Nigerian military is failing to take effective action against the terrorists.

This has resulted in Boko Haram now being regarded as the world’s deadliest terrorist organisation, responsible for more deaths than Isil. There are now reports that the group is trying to train kidnapped children to act as suicide bombers.

“This is a scandal in the making," explained a senior U.S. official. "There is no doubt the growing strength of Boko Haram is because President Buhari is far more interested in settling scores with his political opponents that concentrating his energy on defeating terrorists,”  “The result is that Nigeria is starting to look more and more like a police state while Boko Haram just goes from strength to strength.”

Another Western diplomat added: “If Buhari was serious about fighting corruption he would be focusing all of his efforts on targeting corruption that is impeding Nigeria’s ability to focus its efforts on tackling Boko Haram.”

Accusations that Nigeria is abusing British aid will add to the growing controversy over Downing Street’s commitment to spend 0.7 percent of GDP on the foreign aid budget. Last week the Telegraph reported that DFID was under pressure to cancel £200 million of foreign aid to Tanzania following concerns over a widely condemned election.

This resulted in Dr Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary, accusing the government of “spraying money around” simply to achieve the 0.7 per cent target.

Western officials have expressed concern about Mr Buhari’s increasingly autocratic style of government since he came to power last year. A retired major-general, Mr Buhari, 73, previously headed a brutal military dictatorship following a coup in December 1983, which lasted until he was overthrown by another coup in 1985.

Now political opponents claim he is returning to his old dictatorial ways, abusing British aid meant to improve Nigeria’s ability to tackle Boko Haram to consolidate his hold on power.

Apart from the concerns over British aid, American officials are also angry that  $2.1 billion of aid given to the Nigerian military to tackle Boko Haram has not been properly accounted for.  

Mr Buhari’s claim that he is winning the war against Boko Haram - recently claimed the group no longer poses a serious threat - has been undermined by recent revelations the Nigerian authorities have tried to cover up the fact that hundreds more schoolchildren have been abducted by Boko Haram.

Human rights activists have no confirmed that around 400 women and children were abducted last year by militants from the Nigerian town of Damasak.

It is now believed that some of these children may have been trained as suicide bombers. U.S. counter-terrorism experts say at least 105 women and girls trained by Boko Haram have taken part in suicide attacks since June 2014.

Ibinabo Fiberesima gets N2m bail

Embattled star actress Ibinabo Fiberesima, who was sentenced to a five – year jail term for the death of Suraj Giwa, a Lagos State of Doctor, has been granted N2million bail with two sureties who are residents. 

Ibinabo’s lawyers had filed a bail application on the grounds of a serious medical attention. Justice Deborah Oluwayemi of the State High Court had in 2009 convicted Fiberesima of manslaughter, holding to the fact that her reckless driving was responsible for an auto crash, which claimed the life of one Dr. 

Giwa Suraj on the Lekki-Epe Expressway. While sentencing Fiberesima to five years imprisonment, Justice Oluwayemi overruled the decision of the State Magistrates’ Court which earlier ordered her to pay N100,000 for the offence. Dissatisfied with the Judgment , the convict approached the Court of Appeal to nullify the judgment but the court also affirmed it.

Kachikwu, Emefiele fly private jet used by Diezani …aircraft flown to CBN gov’s mother’s burial

Top-rated Canadian-made private jets chartered regularly by the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, are now being flown by the new Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, investigations by Saturday PUNCH have shown.

The development brings to question the new administration’s criticism of financial recklessness of the previous administration and its resolve to cut costs in the face of falling oil prices.

The Bombardier luxury private jets with cozy interior, flown by Kachikwu and Emefiele belong to VistaJet Holding SA, a Swiss charter airline that has satellite facilities in some countries of the world, including Nigeria.

Diezani had faced sharp criticism for chartering VistaJet’s private jets for several months and accumulating huge sums of bills that was almost half of the cost of a private jet.

The CBN, impeccable sources within the apex bank revealed, had also entered into a long-term and renewable contract with VistaJet.

The contract gives Emefiele unfettered access to one of VistaJet’s luxury planes any time of the day and for whatever number of hours.

According to top officials of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency working in the Air Traffic Control Towers in Lagos and Abuja airports, Emefiele has been flying regularly one of VistaJet’s private jets.

He has been sighted flying the Bombardier Challenger 850 flown by Diezani during the last administration.

According to unconfirmed sources, the CBN pays $1m to VistaJet a year for the use of any of its jets by the governor any time.

A top official of the CBN, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed to one of our correspondents that the apex bank and VistaJet had signed an agreement that allowed the governor to make use of any of the private jets on demand.

The central bank official, however, said the amount was not up to $1m a year, saying he neither had the details nor the terms of the contract.

The CBN source said, “The CBN entered the agreement because of flight delays and cancellations associated with domestic airlines. Because of the nature of the work of the CBN governor, he may be wanted at the Presidency or any other key place at any time. The only way he can meet up is to enter into this kind of arrangement. The frequent disappointments associated with local airlines may not allow this to happen. This is why we bought block hours from the firm.”

Asked why such an agreement was not signed with any of the local charter airlines, the official said, “This company, though a foreign one, has met all the requirements of the CBN. The apex bank also discovered that they will perform. I am sure if other local players met the requirements, they could have been considered.”

Although VistaJet planes fly customers to any part of the world, the CBN official said the agreement with the apex bank was limited to only domestic flights.

“The demand of the job at the CBN requires such an agreement. You can recall that during the military era, the CBN used to have a private jet of its own. But this time, we are not buying, it is just to buy block hours and this is limited to domestic flights,” the CBN official added.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, had yet to respond to calls and text messages, seeking clarifications on the matter as of the time of filing this report.

The VistaJets’ representative in Nigeria could not be reached for comments. Calls and text messages sent to the official telephone lines did not go through.

Meanwhile, findings from NAMA Air Traffic Control Towers showed that one of the VistaJet private jets was flown by Emefiele and Kachikwu to the former’s mother burial in Delta State last week.

Sources said the petroleum minister and CBN governor flew the luxury plane to Delta.

VistaJet, which parades brand new Bombardier jets in its fleets, enjoys perhaps the highest patronage among the operators in the Nigerian charter airline business market.

The Swiss charter airline, which has over 50 luxury planes in its fleet, deployed five of them in Nigeria during peak seasons.

Other charter airline operators in Nigeria include the United Kingdom-based Hanger 8 Aviation, Nigerian-owned Top Brass Aviation, Skyjet Airlines, Jed Air, Overland Airways, SkyPower Express, Arik Air, King Air and Associated Airlines.

Findings showed that politicians and public office holders, who had ceased to fly private jets shortly after the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari, had started patronising charter airlines again.

The development puts under spotlight Buhari’s decision not to cut down the 11 aircraft currently in the Presidential Air Fleet.

The PAF is currently the second largest commercial airline in the country after Arik Air.

Apart from Arik, none of the other carriers including Dana Air, Medview Airlines, FirstNation, Azman Airlines, Air Peace, Overland Airways has over 11 aircraft in its fleet.

According to findings, the PAF include two Falcon 7X jets, two Falcon 900 jets, a Gulfstream 550, one Boeing 737 BBJ (Nigerian Air Force 001 or Eagle One), and a Gulfstream IVSP.

Others are one Gulfstream V, Cessna Citation 2 aircraft and Hawker Siddley 125-800 jet.

Each of the Falcon 7X jets was purchased in 2010 at a cost of $51.1m, while the Gulfstream 550 costs $53.3m.

The factory price of the other aircraft in the fleet could not be obtained online. However, airline CEOs put the average price of the Falcon 900 at $35m; Gulfstream IVSP, $40m; Gulfstream V, $45m; Boeing 737 BBJ, $58m; Cessna Citation, $7m; and Hawker Siddley 125-800, $15m.

This brings a combined estimated value of the PAF to $390.5m (N60.53bn). According to aviation experts, about 15 per cent of this amount is expected to be spent annually in maintaining these planes.

Nigeria happens to be one of the few countries in the world with a large PAF.

Most major countries in Europe and Asia maintain two aircraft in their PAF, according to Wikipedia.

Countries like Ghana, Algeria and a host of others in Europe maintain only one aircraft in their PAF.

When contacted, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation stated that it does not pay any kobo for the services rendered by VistaJet.

Its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Garba Deen, told one of our correspondents that neither the ministry nor the national oil firm had spent a dime as payment for the services of  VistaJet since the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Ibe Kachikwu, came on board.

He stated that the NNPC had about 60 per cent stake in various joint ventures, adding that the partners in the JV agreements were responsible for the payment of the services rendered by the private airline.

Deen also noted that the jet owned by the NNPC had issues and had been parked.

He said, “Since he (Kachikwu) became GMD, he has not spent any money on private jet. The NNPC jet has problems and I believe that it’s been moved to the villa. The VistaJet that we are using is owned by the companies with whom NNPC has joint venture agreements. And you know that the NNPC has about 60 per cent in its JVs.

“So since we have 60 per cent of the JVs, anything that has to do with the JV operations, including jets and so on, we are entitled to use it. Therefore, it does not cost NNPC a single kobo to use VistaJet that you mentioned.”

When asked to further explain the 60 per cent joint ventures which the NNPC has with other oil majors, Deen said, “We have JV agreements with oil majors and international oil companies, and I am going to be specific about only VistaJet. The companies with whom we have JV agreements are the ones paying VistaJet for we are entitled to use that facility because we contribute 60 per cent of the joint venture funding.

“VistaJet is part of the services that the joint venture operations entail. So NNPC does not pay, the Nigerian government does not pay N1 for the use of those VistaJet’s planes. It is part of the entitlement that we get as partners in the JV agreements.”

Deen stated that the entitlement of the NNPC had been available all the while but nobody exploited it until the present minister came on board.

“So in other words, the practice is saving Nigeria a lot of money by way of probably maintaining private jets or buying jets or even chartering planes in order to travel abroad.”

Meanwhile, aviation experts have criticised Kachikwu and Emefiele over the development.

Aviation Consultant and CEO, Finum Aviation Services, Mr. Sheri Kyari, said, “I would not support them because the Presidency has enough aircraft for them to use. For them to go out and start patronising the services of chartered airlines, I don’t think it is right. The President has close to 10 aircraft so I think that the duo of Kachikwu and Emefiele can use what is already on ground rather than going about to charter some other planes since the government said it was pursuing accountability and prudence.”

He noted that they (Kachikwu and Emefiele) would not ordinarily be expected to be flying chartered flights especially as the Federal Government had banned public officials from flying first class.

He said, “In that regard, they should have no reason to use private jets to fly on official duties. They could fly commercial airlines like every other person and if it is for their security or expediency of the job, there are enough aeroplanes for the Presidency. We would not support that because we are talking about reducing the cost of governance.”

Chief Executive Officer, Centurion Aviation Safety and Security Consult, Group Capt John Ojikutu (retd), said Kachikwu and Emefiele were not entitled to use the planes in the presidential fleet.

He said, “The only thing I would tell you like a Nigerian is that one, if you read the newspapers, the President is trying to cut the costs of travelling, for those travelling on first class or business class. I think that should apply to them too. But the presidential fleet is not meant for them; it is meant for the Presidency. The Minister of Petroleum will always travel; I don’t know where the CBN governor is going anyway that he has to be travelling with a private jet. But these are issues that are supposed to be ironed out by the National Assembly. It depends on if they have made a budget for them to be flying private airlines. A former minister of petroleum ran into murky waters on this same issue.

“The question is whether it (flying private jets) was budgeted for and they are spending their budget wisely. If they are not spending their budget, it means they are taking the money from somewhere so the National Assembly should find out where they are getting the money from.”

On private jets owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other government departments, Ojikutu said, “Does the NNPC have budget for it? If the corporation has budget for it, there is very little anybody can do about it, especially if it has been approved by the National Assembly. If not and they are spending that money, the National Assembly will call them to order. They are not the only one; there used to be a time when NEPA had a private jet, Immigration also had, the police had too.

“The questions the National Assembly should ask are: Have they appropriated money for them to fly private jets? If they have not appropriated money for it, they should ask them where they are getting the money from. How much does it cost you to run it when there are other alternatives for you? If it cost you so much, have we appropriated that amount of money to you? If we haven’t appropriated that kind of money to you, then how are you making the money? Are you stealing the money from somewhere or you are not revealing how much money you are making? So these are questions for the National Assembly to handle.”