March 10, 2009

9ice to perform in Ghana


Multiple-award winning singer, 9ice, is scheduled to perform in Accra for the very first time at the Accra International Conference Center, Accra, Ghana on the 28th March, 2009.The show will also feature Yes Record's flagship artistes, G-Xploit, whose hit track 'Bolu Molu Merete' has reached No.8 on MTV Base World Charts. In addition, rave-making Shank and fellow Yes! Record signee Steel will also be on the bill.SO,lets go there!!!!!!!!!!!!

Inter-banks’ lending rates hits 20.25%


Inter-banks’ lending rates has risen to 20.25 per cent from 16.91 per cent last week as banks could not get enough naira to finance their operations.

According to agency reports, lack of cash inflow caused banks to scramble for the few cash around thus giving indication for a possible rise again above 20.25 per cent next week.

The agency further noted that most of the funds that came in through budgetary allocations to government agencies two weeks ago, have dried up, and many banks could not access the central bank’s repo window as they had no treasury bills to serve as collateral.

Also, it said, payment for foreign exchange purchased at the central bank’s bi-weekly auctions had also drained liquidity from the system as the CBN sold $849 million last week.
However, the liquidity crunch was worsened by the fact that there were no repayments in matured treasury bills in the week as none was due.

AC asks Alao-Akala to explain source of daughter’s stolen money

The Action Congress in Oyo State, on Monday, asked Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala to explain the source of the $56,000 allegedly stolen from his daughter, Mrs. Olamide Alabi.

The said $56,000 was reportedly stolen when armed robbers attacked and took away Olamide’s Honda Accord 2008 Model car on February 13 in Ibadan.

The Secretary of the AC in the state, Mr. Dele Akinleye, told journalists during an interview that the amount allegedly stolen from the governor’s daughter as reported by a national daily (not The Punch) was too much for the lady to have in her possession.

Though the lady did not deny the robbery incident, she explained in a statement in Ibadan on Monday that no such amount was found in her car.

But Akinleye expressed surprise at the development and described it as unfortunate, especially at a time ‘when teachers and pupils of public schools were currently languishing at home over government’s failure to pay the Teachers Salary Structure.’

He insisted that Alao-Akala should explain the source of the money said to have been found with his daughter at this period of global economic meltdown.

He said, “I wonder how she (Akala’s daughter) could be taking such amount to a social event. That means she took more than that to the party because the report in the daily said she was robbed on her way back home.

“She must explain to us where she got the money because she is just a graduate of about two years from the Bowen University, Iwo. One wonders from where she got that type of money. That is the question we are asking Governor Alao-Akala to answer.”

Akinleye wondered why the governor claimed that he could not pay the TSS, yet his daughter was allegedly going about with huge sums of foreign currencies.

The story of Alao-Akala’s daughter’s robbery incident was broken on Sunday when the state police command paraded the hoodlums who had been the terrorising residents of some highbrow areas in the city, within the last two months.

The Deputy Commissioner Oyo State Command, Mr. Ralph Ibeazor, while briefing journalists, said luck ran out of the robbers on Sunday morning when they raided two hotels and some residential homes and were fleeing.

Ibeazor had said that his men gave them a good chase and caught them at Oluwo-Nla area of new Bodija, killing three of them while the other two were seriously wounded during a gun duel with the police.

He had said that two policemen also lost their lives in the process.

“These robbers had been terrorising residents of Ashi, Ikolaba, and Oluyole areas of Ibadan. it had been very difficult to get them. We are happy that we got them at last. This is one of our biggest catches this year. We will continue to get them.” The police chief had said.

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer in charge of the state command, Miss. Olabiisi Okuwobi, said on Monday that the command would soon track down a four-member armed robbery gang who are still at large.

Okuwobi also said that two of the suspects wounded by the police on Sunday had started responding to treatment at the hospital. She said adding that they had given useful information that could help the command in its investigations.

Electoral Reforms: Buhari raises alarm …they want to kill Uwais report


Former Military Head of State and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Presidential candidate during the April, 2007 general election, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) has expressed doubt over the Federal Government’s sincerity as regards the much expected electoral reforms, saying the way the report of the exercise was being treated, right now, has shown that the whole efforts might, at the end of the day, become an exercise in futility.

Buhari, spoke in Lagos on Monday at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), where a book; Who really is General Muhammadu Buhari written on him by the former Petroleum Minister, Professor Tam David-West was launched.

He expressed apprehension that the way the white paper on the report was being tossed around, the government was set to reject the committee’s report and that Nigeria might return to status quo ante, regretting that the cynics might be proved right at the end of the day about the insincerity of the government.

The former Head of State, who, though lamented that the Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral Law were violated with reckless abandon during the 2007 elections, however, saw no need for any reform of the country’s law when the laws had not been properly tested and practised, insisting that it was the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and the people in government that needed to be reformed.

Speaking further, Buhari berated the ruling Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) intolerance of opposition with their “crush the opposition” attitude, saying, “PDP leadership are ignorant of the tenets of democracy.”
“It is not a crime to be in opposition, but it is a crime to threaten the opposition,” he pointed out, just as he charged the people that, “we have a duty to preserve peace and work for democracy,” saying, “if we cannot build on the legacies of our past leaders, we should be able to preserve them.”

And to make democracy work in Nigeria, Buhari said, “INEC must be independent and impartial, the Armed Forces/Police should be neutral, while the Judiciary should shun corruption and professional misconduct.”
Speaking in the same vein earlier, the chairman on the occasion and the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole advised the President to set up a committee of representatives of all the political parties that would chart a new electoral path for the country. He said it should not be the agenda of the President alone.

According to him, the reform should be the type that, “all of us can buy into, take it over and drive it,” stating that, “in 2011, people expect that elections would be finalised at the ballot box.”
“This is the time for action,” Oshiomhole charged Nigerians, while describing Buhari as, “an epitome of discipline, a patriot, accomplished soldier and complete gentleman.” “If Buhari was allowed to continue the crusade of cleansing Nigeria in 1985, the country would have been better for it because under Buhari, all Nigeria’s refineries were working,” he stressed.

According to Oshiomhole, something must be done to those who give government advice on which unworkable policies are made, warning that, if nothing is done to them, Nigeria would continue to be in crisis.
Former governor of Abia State and the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Progresssive Peoples Alliance, (PPA), Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, described both the author and the subject of the book as people of strong character, regretting that Buhari was a misunderstood personality simply because he wanted things to be done the right way.

While commending Buhari for resorting to the judicial settlement of the last election, he warned that, “when justice fails, what happen after that is violence,” just as he sermonised that, “What the nation requires now is collective oneness.”

Former minister of sports, Chief Alex Akinyele in his own comments assured Buhari that his admirers abound, saying he should not be discouraged by his critics.
Akinyele therefore seized the opportunity to regret that the war against corruption had not been won because everybody was guilty, saying until everybody agreed to change for the better the monster would continue to be with us.

While former River State military governor, General Zamani Lekwot urged writers to bring out people like Buhari to be recorded to serve as role model to other people, the publisher of the book, Mr. Agbo Areo advised the National Assembly to quickly pass the Freedom Of Information Bill if they had nothing to hide, saying it would minimize the tendency to write speculative stories by newsmen.

The overwhelmed author, Professor Tam David-West thanked those who made the occasion a huge success.
At the well attended event were former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111. Amanayanabo of Grand Bonny Kingdom and of Opobo, Kings Edward Asimin William Dappa Pepple 111 and Dandeson Douglas Jaja respectively, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Lateef Adegbite, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and representatives of both serving and past states governors as well as representatives of the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri among others.