Meet the 6 powerful cabals that have hijacked Buhari’s government

Ever since the explosive interview of Mrs Aisha Buhari claiming that her husband’s government has been hijacked by a cabal, Nigerians have been made to understand that there are some set of people who influences the president’s decision.
The president’s wife in the BBC Hausa interview said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has been hijacked by cabal who are “behind presidential appointments”.
These “cabal” serve as close to ears to the president with so much power at their disposal.
Nigeria’s Senate president, Bukola Saraki during his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) alleged that a powerful cabal within the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government had hijacked power from the retired general.
In a statement, Saraki alleged that the powerful forces in Buhari’s administration are bent on humiliating him.
However, the presidency said Saraki’s claim was not only ridiculous and baseless since it was not backed by facts and detailed information.
Naij has compiled a list of powerful cabal that have taken over the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso rock:

1. Abba Kyari, the chief of staff to the president

File photo of Buhari’s chief of staff Abba Kyari

A retired Brigadier general in the Nigerian army and an uncle to the president. He had been in corridors of power since Yakubu Gowon’s era. He wielded so much power, loves power and dispenses as he wishes.
He is been accused of using power for personal gain. Kyari is reported to have a firm grip on Mr President and is a force to reckon within this government.

2. Mamman Daura

Mamman Daura and President Buhari

Daura is the nephew of President Buhari, he’s the unofficial vice president, much more than VP Osinbajo.
Although, he holds no political office in this dispensation, Daura, is often seen with the president and travels with him. He is believed to have considerable input in the choice of those who emerged as ministers, especially those from the North. Between the two they have made this government nepotic, despotic and lacks focus.
In 1983, when the then General Muhammadu Buhari took over power from the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari, Daura became very influential at the time. He even became the head of African International Bank and chairman of the board of Nigerian Television Authority.
3. Babachir Lawal, Secretary to the Government of the Federation

Lawal occupies a powerful position on the ladder of Nigeria’s powerful rulers. By virtue of his position he serves as secretary to important government organs such as the Federal Executive Council and the Council of State.
As government’s scribe, Lawal carries out supervisory functions on some government departments and agencies. Very outspoken, he does not hide the big influence he wields in the administration.
At the commencement of meetings of FEC, the SGF does not shy away from tackling ministers who do not settle down on time for meetings. He is also said to have the ears of the President.
4. Kayode Fayemi, Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi – Ministers
These ministers are the new mover and shakers of APC-led government. They are believed to have inputs alongside the APC National Chairman, John Oyegun at various state primary elections.
They are the young minds of President Buhari and hold powerful ministries at the Federal Executive arm.

5. Ismailia Funtua

Ismaila Isa Funtua is said to be a personal friend of the president and the Chairman of Bulet International construction. It is reported that he has Buhari’s ears on national issues, including appointments.
Although Funtua, like Daura, does not hold political office, he has much influence on the President even more than those who are holding offices. He has been part of Buhari’s delegation on some of his foreign trips, including his official visit to the United States last year.
6. Theophilus Danjuma

General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd)

Danjuma who is one of Nigeria’s most influential and respected senior military officers ever is a power broker. He is always sought after by successive governments.

That he was one of the major sponsors of Buhari’s Presidency is not a secret. With an interest in oil blocs, Danjuma, is believed to have played a major role in the emergence of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources.

Dasukigate: Arrest Jonathan now – APC tells Buhari (video)

Goodluck Jonathan addressing UN Swiss press in Geneva

– Former President Goodluck Jonathan recently said there was no way an amount as huge as $2.2 billion could go missing under his government
– Jonathan defended Sambo Dasuki, his former National Security Adviser (NSA) now at the centre of the scandal
– The All Progressives Congress (APC) is now insisting that Jonathan had knowledge of all the corrupt practices that took place under his administration
The All Progressives Congress in Lagos state has demanded the arrest of former President Goodluck Jonathan for defending Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser.
Dasuki is in detention over a $2.2 billion scandal but Jonathan, while speaking recently at the Oxford Union, said he did not believe that such an amount could be stolen under him.

Joe Igbokwe, spokesperson of the APC in Lagos

The APC in Lagos insisted that there was no way Jonathan would say he did not know of the massive corruption under his government.
A statement by the party, through its spokesperson, Joe Igbokwe, and reported by Premium Times, said: “Even as we concede that Jonathan is on a desperate bid to rehabilitate himself, we wouldn’t believe that a former president should be so contemptuous of the intelligence of Nigerians as to give the kind of defence he gave to Sambo Dasuki.
“We wonder what Jonathan makes of the horrid details that are emanating from the Dasukigate issue with shocking evidences, confessions and even refunds made by those that participated in that monumental corruption.”
Jonathan had reportedly said: “I don’t believe somebody can just steal $2.2 billion. We bought warships, we bought aircraft, we bought lots of weapons for the army and so on and so forth and you are still saying 2.2 billion, so where did we get the money to buy all those things?”
The party warned Jonathan against defending someone who, though his action, compromised the security of the country, adding: “To claim that Dasuki and his partners did not steal the arms purchase fund reveals the inner beliefs of Jonathan and explains that he is intrinsically webbed to corruption.
“Even while he is perceived as pathologically corrupt and his regime seen as the most corrupt in Nigeria’s chequered history, one would have expected Jonathan to be cautious in seeking to advance very childish and inadmissible exculpation of his subordinates for glaring acts of corruption.
“We had expected that Jonathan would have striven to water down the lowly impression held of him by Nigerians and the international community by not deciding to be so patronising to clear cases of corruption by his subordinates. But with each day, Jonathan continues to baffle by his chameleonic acts.
“By Jonathan’s cheap defence of Sambo Dasuki, we believe time has come for the security agencies to pick up Jonathan to tell the nation all that he knows of the many cases of corruption that happened under him.
“We don’t believe any thing shields Jonathan from prosecution for corruption as we believe it is becoming indefensible for Jonathan to pretend he was innocent of the corrupt acts of his subordinates.
“While we condemn Jonathan’s cheeky defence of Dasuki, even in the face of monumental damning evidences, we want to state that the anti corruption war is incomplete until Jonathan is prosecuted for he continually proves, by such defence of his corrupt subordinates, that he knew everything that transpired in his corruption-ridden regime.”https://youtu.be/Il_rNnALpzI

Niger State Repatriates Illegal Immigrants To Niger Republic

The Niger State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service said on Wednesday that 53 illegal immigrants have been repatriated to Niger Republic. Mrs Tamuno Oyedeji, Comptroller of Immigration Service in the state disclosed this in an interview in Minna.

Adededji said the state government provided vehicles for the transportation of the illegal immigrants to the border post at Jibia in Katsina state. “We successfully handed them over to the Niger Republic Immigration officers at the border post,’’ she said. Adedeji said that the immigrants were repatriated because their presents constitute security threats in the state.
She said that most of the illegal immigrants possess expired documents, while others have no legal documents to back their legitimate stay in the country. The comptroller said that the command has taken proactive security measures to ensure only immigrants with proper documents are allowed into the country through Babana border with Benin Republic.

Being The President’s Chef

                   Club des chefs des chefs

The chefs who cook for the world’s leaders usually keep a low profile, leaving the limelight to their bosses. But once a year, it is their turn to be wined and dined and treated as honoured guests in a foreign country.
Billed as the world’s most exclusive gastronomic society, the Club des Chefs des Chefs brings together the men and women who cook for heads of state to exchange ideas and — presumably — insider information on their bosses’ tastes.
They have met annually since the club was first established in Paris in 1977 and this year for the first time they are doing so in India, hosted by the president’s personal chef, Montu Saini.
“The presidents all met each other. I thought it was a good idea to make a sort of G20 of the chefs,” the club’s founder Gilles Bragard told journalists in Delhi.
“If politics divides men, a good table will unite them.”
Naturally, the tradition involves trying out local delicacies. But Saini has left little to chance when it comes to the Indian capital’s most notorious complaint.
Rather than subjecting the chefs to Delhi street food, he has had the kitchen of their five-star hotel recreate golgappas and aloo tikkis — popular fried snacks made of wheat flour and potato and served with sweet and spicy chutneys.
“I can’t take them to the street because they are foreigners. Their tummies are too sensitive,” said Saini.
“So I am creating a replica in the hotels.”
India excels in the extravagant welcome, and the visiting chefs are treated like the royalty many of them work for.
Arriving in their immaculate chef’s whites at Old Delhi’s chaotic spice market, even more crowded than usual ahead of the Diwali festival, they were showered with pink rose petals and garlanded with jasmine.
“This is fantastic,” said Bernard Vaussion, who cooked for six French presidents before he retired, as he pushed his way through the market’s packed alleyways.
“I mean it’s dirty and noisy, but who cares. It’s such an experience.”
India takes its toll though. By day three, one of the visiting chefs has fallen ill, while another is feeling the effects of Indian cuisine.
“After four days of eating spicy (food), you feel it,” said Fabrizio Boca, chef to the Italian president. “I think it’s only because you have to get used to it.”
Like most of the visiting chefs — 16 men and one woman, America’s Cristeta Comerford — Boca is eager to learn more about India’s vast range of spices.
Comerford, a Filipino-American, said she saw parallels with the cuisine of the Philippines.
“It’s not a recipe driven food, it’s more of a philosophy,” she told AFP.
“I would use the analogy of the Philippines, because each household has their own way of doing a certain dish.”
For the chefs, the annual gatherings are a chance to exchange ideas and get to know each other.
They also have a hotline known as the “blue telephone” that allows them to consult each other on their bosses’ preferences before a state visit.
None of the chefs gave away much about their bosses’ tastes, although all agreed on the growing importance of seasonality in food, and of making state dinners a lighter, healthier affair.
“Looking for more sustainable more local produce has become more prominent,” said Mark Flanagan, chef to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.
Given the move towards lighter dishes, it was perhaps doubtful whether the first recipe they tried on arriving in Delhi — the heart-stoppingly calorific Indian sweets known as jalebis, made of deep-fried batter soaked in syrup — would be recreated at home.
But Christian Garcia, the club’s current president and personal chef to Prince Albert of Monaco, said he might be tempted to ask for the recipe. Princess Charlene, he said, was a big fan of Indian cuisine.
“I thought I knew how to cook Indian food a bit, but now I realise I was completely wrong,” he said.
“Apart from curry and a few spices, I didn’t know how to cook any of the dishes that I’ve been able to discover during our stay.”

From Nigeria to Italy: Women trafficked into se x work tell their stories “I had no choice, I had to pay him… I was like a prisoner”

A Nigerian lady , Victoria, who was told she was going to Italy to study and work afterwards tells her story of how was forced into prostitution and how she sufferered in the hands of her traffickers
”They promised me an education. They promised me if I came with them I could go to school and get a good job” 18-year-old Victoria tells ITV her story from a small cafe house in Turin, a shelter for rescued Nigerian prostitutes.
The promise was the slick patter of a modern slave master, who saw Victoria in her native Lagos back in Nigeria, and realised she was rich pickings. Her trafficker, whom she trusted, said he could get her to Italy.
With little to live for in Nigeria, Victoria found the money to pay and with her head full of teenage dreams of a better life, she went for it. She is one of thousands of Nigerian women who take the gamble every year – the numbers have shot up in the past two years as the traffickers hide their victims in the endless flow of migrants heading to Europe.
Victoria’s 2,500 mile journey became an epic of exploitation and abuse. By the time they’d got her to Libya, Victoria had been beaten and forced into prostitution: making money for her trafficker to pay off her now endless debt to him. Her eyes widen as she tells ITV presenter she had no choice. Her dismay is heartbreaking.
“I had no choice, I had no choice! I had to pay him… I was like a prisoner”, she said.
But thankfully the shelter we’re chatting in is a place of safety. Just a few weeks ago she arrived in Italy by boat via the now well worn route of thousands of Nigerian women. Before the traffickers awaiting her in Italy could pluck her from the crowd, she was spotted by a charity run by Princess Inyang Okokon, who was herself trafficked from Italy to Nigeria, via London, nearly 20 years ago.
Her husband Alberto is happy to admit he was once one of her paying clients.
But when he met Princess, his eyes were opened to the phenomenon of modern slavery: she was trapped in a life of prostitution in Italy, her documents kept by her female trafficker – and with massive debts to pay. He helped her get out. For Princess, Victoria’s story is her story.

She and Alberto now run shelters for women just like her, but are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer numbers they are dealing with. The couple took the reporters onto the streets of Turin late at night: in one suburb there is a sex worker on almost every corner – nearly all of them we are told, will have been trafficked from Nigeria.
Wearing barely any clothes, they stoke fires they’ve made in small oil drums to keep warm whilst they wait for the next car to pull up (see video in the link) Rescuing them is dangerous work: the traffickers watch their every move.
ITV spoke to many of the women Princess and Alberto care for. All of them had tales of rape, beatings, enforced servitude. Two of them had babies with them – thrown onto the boats from Libya to Italy because their trade value went down when they got pregnant in Libya. Every single one of them had been bought, sold, used, and resold. They were treated as goods in transit.

Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly spends thousands of Euros on cosmetic therapy and botox (photos)

The world’s most famous sportsman Cristiano Ronaldo, set tongues wagging when he uploaded a photo of him wearing facial mask during a spa session last week. Now a popular Portuguese gossip magazine have reported that the footballer allegedly spends thousands of Euros on cosmetic therapy and botox procedures and prefers spending time on his looks than his football.
The magazine who used C.Ronaldo on their front page alleged that the footballer is addicted to botox, but interestingly, used an old photo of Cristiano Ronaldo to buttress their claims.

The photo Ronaldo posted on his IG page

Woman reveals love note, accuses Michael Jackson of sexually assaulting her when she was 12

Tweet on Twitter

• 
  

An unidentified woman has filed in a lawsuit accusing late pop king Micheal Jackson for sexually assaulting her when she was just 12.
According to the TMZ report, the woman who filed in the lawsuit as a ‘Jane Doe’ said the singer started abusing her in 1986 when she and her mother had stopped by his Hayvenhurst home as sightseers. She says Michael invited them into the house to see his candy area. She claims Michael fondled her genitals and gave her movie kisses tongue kissing her mouth and body. She also alleges there was vaginal penetration.
In the document provided which includes copies of cheques and love letters, the woman claimed that she received more than $900,000 in three years to stay mute, with the first payment of $2,500, followed by a bumper pay of $600k in 1993.
Meanwhile, a statement from Micheal Jackson’s attorneys has debunked the accusation, saying:
‘This is yet another attempt to hit the lottery by suing the Estate of Michael Jackson more than seven years after Michael’s death and close to 30 years after these incidents supposedly occurred. We believe this claim was created from whole cloth and is without any merit. It’s also no coincidence that this woman is represented by the same attorneys involved in two other frivolous claims against the Estate.’
See copies of the alleged ‘Cheques and love letters’ below…

Super Eagles’ William Troost-Ekong nominated for 2016 best defender in Norway award

Super Eagles defender and FK Haugesund captain William Troost-Ekong has been nominated for the 2016 Defender of the Year award in the Norwegian Tippeliga league.
His club FK Haugesund’s confirmed his nomination on their official website on Wednesday.
“FK Haugesund William Troost-Ekong is nominated for the ‘Year defender’,” . The series is nearing its end and the Norwegian Football Association (NFF), Norwegian Toppfotball (NTF) and Adult Women (SKF) invite people to vote on which players, coaches and referees who have been the best in their field this year;” the club announced
Congrats to him!

Photos: Nigerian pastor, 10 others involved in one of the biggest sham marriage in the UK jailed for 50 years

Eleven persons, including Nigerians were involved in one of the biggest sham marriage to be uncovered in West Midlands, UK. They were on October 21, 2016, jailed for a total of 52 and a half years.
A Nigerian pastor and two other men are regarded as the driving forces behind the racket that involved at least 45 fake relationships received the longest sentences. 41-year-old Donald Nwachuckwu, senior pastor at the Kingdom of Godfire Church in Bilston, was jailed for eight years .
He used his position to identify West Africans in the country illegally who were prepared pay up to £6,500 for permission to stay on the bogus grounds of being married to, or in a long term relationship with, a person from the European Union living and working in this country.
An astonishing £153,000 worth of credits passed through bank accounts run by the pastor under a false name before he was arrested at his home in Titford Road, Oldbury.
Nwachukwu and others had joined forces with a Nigerian law student to cash in a valuable asset -a person’s right to stay in the UK and claim benefits. The sham marriage gang was busted in 2013, following a tip of about a dodgy wedding between a 26-year-old Nigerian Edward James and Czech Julie Ondova, 20, who already had a boyfriend and two children but had accepted £800 to play the role of bride at Stoke Register Office with a further £1,000 due on completion of the nuptials. The both pleaded guilty at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court to facilitating a breach of immigration law. He was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment and deported on July 29, 2014. She was jailed for 16 months and kicked out of the country on completion of her sentence.
Clemence Marijeni, aged 43, from Weston Road, Bilston was the master forger who created the fake documents to support the spurious applications for European Economic Area (EEA) resident’s cards that allowed the holder to stay in the UK and claim benefits. He was jailed for ten years. The graphics expert created fake histories for the West African and person supposed to be their long term lover – mainly Czech or Slovakian and promised up to £1,800 each to take part in the plot which ran from January 2012 to March last year.
False utility bills, rent books, pay slips and employment records backed the bogus claim of a legitimate marriage or lasting relationship. Some included pictures of the pair – who were strangers – side by side in bed, fully clothed or shopping together
Olatunji George, 44, a law student who had completed a module on immigration law administered the operation. He also got 10 years behind bars. He claimed to be paid up to £1,000-a-time to prepare packages of the correct documents and fill in the necessary paperwork for the bogus resident’s card applications.
His home in Taylor Way, Tividale held an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of information when raided by Immigration Enforcement investigators who, after a tip off, halted the marriage of a 26-year-old Nigerian and a Czech woman, who both lived in Wolverhampton. She revealed that Nwachuckwu had been involved in organising the bogus wedding. Checks on the pastor revealed phone calls between him, George and Marijeni.
Jozef Puzo, aged 28, St Pauls Road, Smethwick, was jailed for five years. He provided the final piece of the jigsaw by earning up to £750-a-time finding women and men from the zech and Slovakian communities prepared to take part in the scam. Both he and George are now on the run after fleeing during their trial but were convicted and sentenced in their absence.
Also convicted of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law were: Victor Ibeh, 32, Cherene Cotterill,27, and pavel Farbar, 30: Lenka Jocova, 38, Peter Fredrick, 27, Idris Agia, 31 and Aishatu Ibrahim, 25.
However, Aishatu Ibrahi has also gone missing but was given three and a half years while Agia was arrested moments before flying out of the country to Nigeria just days ago. He was jailed for three and a half years. The other five defendants were each jailed for between two and three and a half years. All defendants were found guilty of immigration offences. Jailing them at Worverhampton Crown Court yesterday, Judge Amjad Nwas said:
“These were all willing participants in a well organised system operated for profit”
Photos of other convicts below …


Source: Express and Star

Jay Z bids $40M to acquire unreleased music of late rock icon Prince

Rap mogul and Roc Nation CEO, Jay Z has reportedly bid $40M to acquire the right to buy the unreleased music of late rock icon Prince.
According to TMZ report, Jayz flew Prince’s sister Tyka and her husband, Maurice Phillips to NYC to meet with him for further discussion on the $40M deal. However, it is also believed that Tyka who shares same parent with the late singer that died in April 2016 will have to get sign-off from all her half siblings before Jay Z can have full right to the deal.

‘If i don’t get back in the team, i’ll respect it, Chelsea is bigger than me!’ – Mikel Obi

Tweet on Twitter

• 
  

John Mikel Obi, Chelsea’s longest serving player after captain John Terry has admitted that he will respect the decision of the club and it’s manager Antonio Conte if they decide to not bring him back to the Chelsea first team and offload him in the winter or summer transfer window.
Mikel, who has won virtually every title at club level, has not featured for Chelsea this season. He hopes to play in Wednesday’s English League cup clash against West Ham as the arrival of Frenchman N’Golo Kante further pushed him down the pecking order below Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas, Nathaniel Chalobah and Reuben Loftus-Cheek.
“I hope I will get some playing time against West Ham [in the EFL Cup], but it is down to the manager,” said Mikel to journalists.
He has been open and honest with me. I respect him for that. He has explained the situation and I totally understand. When you have been at a club for a long time, these things happen where a club wants to move forward.
“I just have to be professional, work as hard as I can to try and get into the team. I work twice as hard every day and it’s because I appreciate this club. I have been here a long time, have a lot of trophies and memories that will never go away. If I don’t get back in the side, I will respect it. I always respect the football club’s decision. The club is more important than me.”
Mikel, who joined Chelsea in 2006, did not start this campaign with the Blues as he was away on international duty with Nigeria at the Olympic Games in Brazil.