PDP Crisis: Makarfi Steps Aside, Agrees To Work With Sheriff

In a rare, yet commendable move, the caretaker chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has agreed to step aside for Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to continue in office as national chairman of the party.
Makarfi was appointed by the PDP Governors Forum, National Assembly caucus of the party and other stakeholders to head a caretaker committee, pending the election of new officers for the party.
The appointment of the caretaker committee followed the dissolution of the Sheriff-led National Working Committee, a move that was resisted by the embattled national chairman.
Following last week’s formal handover of the Wadata Plaza National Secretariat of the PDP to the Makarfi-caretaker committee, Sheriff, who was reportedly out of the country at the time, stormed the opposition party’s headquarters along with his supporters to “takeover”.
The former Borno State governor brandished a court order affirming his authority as national chairman of the PDP.
Reacting to the development, Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State, told newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday that if he was fully briefed on details about the crisis in the party and the status of Sheriff, he would not have accepted to head the caretaker committee.
“If I knew that there was a court order empowering Sheriff as the Chairman, I would not have taken the position because my interest is to see that PDP did not disintegrate. If the court said Sheriff is our leader, we will all follow him”, he said.

The Federal Government has said that it has kept its words by commencing job creation across the country in fulfillment of its campaign promises. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Monday at the South-South Town Hall Meeting organised by his ministry. He said that construction and ancillary workers have started returning to work in droves as contractors are mobilized back to the various road construction projects across the country. ”As more and more road construction works resume in the days ahead, thousands of Nigerians will also be returning to work.” The Minister also said the recruitment of 500,000 teachers had commenced through the online portal ‘npower.gov.ng’, while listing other direct job creation and training schemes that are ongoing now as the N-Power Knowledge, which is training 25,000 Nigerians in technology, and N-Power Build, which is training another 75,000 Nigerians in building services. According to him, the Federal Government is exploring the agricultural sector for massive job creation through the repositioning of the River Basin Development Authorities. “Still talking about jobs, an agreement has been signed to reposition the River Basin Development Authorities within the next 18-24 months. The agreement between the River Basin Development Authorities and the Songhai Farms of Benin Republic includes the training of unemployed youths in integrated farm practice. This programme is complimentary to the upcoming Youth Agriculture Empowerment Programme being planned by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

Following a recent documentary by Al Jazeera, in which it was alleged that her piece of property in Abuja worth $18m and her jewelry worth $2m, have been seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, immediate-past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has reacted in a statement.
Read below
“My attention has been drawn to a report by Al Jazeera, which was released on Monday as a testament to the effectiveness of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its war against corruption. “In the video report, which has been widely circulated in the social media, there are claims about me owning a property in Abuja allegedly worth $18 million.
The report, which represents everything ridiculous and despicable about professional media practice and global best practices in the war against corruption, is the latest attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. “Clips of jewelry allegedly worth over $2 million were also copiously displayed as if to feed the cravings of an audience gratified with the notion that every wealthy Nigerian is corrupt. “
This will not be the first time calculated attempts have been made to demonise and damage my reputation in the public space. Many times, my detractors have gotten away with these irresponsible smear campaigns because they have become accustomed to my characteristic approach of silence in the face of these callous attacks.
“The latest in the string of propaganda attacks launched against my person since I left government as Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister is this Al Jazeera report, which without any court conviction anywhere in the world attempts to dress Diezani Alison Madueke in the garb of a common criminal.
“This, to say the least, is the height of journalistic brigandage and a sheer mockery of Nigeria’s anti-corruption war before the eyes of the world who are watching and asking if the war against corruption is a circus show where suspects are prosecuted and sentenced on the pages of newspapers and video blogs without anything as remotely in the semblance of a trial in the courts of law.
“When did it become a crime to own a property in Nigeria? When did it become a crime for a woman of my status to have in her possession, jewelry? Jewelry, which women all across the world, including the woman selling tomatoes in Bodija market have in abundance in their closets? In which court of law, anywhere in the world was I prosecuted by the EFCC and found guilty of corruption? “With all sense of modesty, I say this only for posterity and for the records. I have strived within my means and the blessings of God to live a decent and accomplished life.

I studied architecture in England and obtained a bachelor’s degree from Howard University, United States of America in 1992. When I returned to Nigeria that same year, I joined Shell Petroleum Development Corporation. “In 2002, I obtained an MBA at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. In April 2006, I was appointed by Shell as the company’s first female Executive Director in Nigeria. In July 2007, I was appointed by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as Minister of Transport. “The next year in December 2008 I became Minister of Mines and Steel Development.
In April 2010, I was appointed as Minister for Petroleum Resources and served in that capacity till May 2015. During this period as Petroleum Minister, I had the honour of serving Nigeria and representing her in the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) where I was elected first female President. “All through my career, I have strived to maintain a record of hard work, integrity and excellence, giving my best to society, because my parents raised me in the consciousness that a man or woman’s greatness is defined not by the amount of wealth they have acquired but the impact of their service to God and humanity. “Coming at such a critical time in my life when I am battling cancer, this poorly executed propaganda bares on its face like tribal marks, a clearly malicious attempt to victimize an innocent woman in what appears an exaggerated plot to validate and give credibility to the anti-corruption crusade under Nigeria’s new regime.
People who are battling cancer or those who have lost their loved ones to this medical condition understand what I am going through at this time. “This is what makes me ponder at the cold-heartedness of those who will go any length to defame and destroy in the name of propaganda. What happened to our shared humanity?,” .
I have absolute regard for the law and believe that people who have breached the laws that govern societies should be made to face the wrath of the law. But in a civilized society, a responsible government owes its citizens absolute commitment to the principles of rule of law, equity, fairness and justice. I have been wrongfully and maliciously maligned and those behind this reckless action know it. “I leave them to posterity, their conscience and above all the Almighty God who is the final judge of all.”

The Niger Delta Avengers on Monday said it was ready for a dialogue with the Federal Government. The militants, however, gave conditions for the peace talk. In a statement published on its website, the group said the Federal Government must suspend the purchase of crude oil from the Niger Delta region. The militants also asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to turn the proposed peace talk and dialogue to a political jamboree. The group said it only needed a genuine attitude and conducive atmosphere that would “make us commit to any proposed dialogue and lasting peace talk.” In the statement signed by the NDA’s spokesperson, Mudoch Agbinibo, the militants also asked the Federal Government to involve member states of the multinational oil corporations to commit independent mediators to the proposed dialogue. It said the peace talk would set up a framework for achieving the short, medium and long-term demands of the Niger Delta to bring about a lasting peace. The statement partly read, “If need be, we may review our earlier stance of not taking lives. We are going to redirect and reactivate all our activities if the government, oil companies and their services firms don’t heed to these modest warnings of not carrying out any repair works and suspend the buying of crude oil from our region as we await the right atmosphere that would engender genuine dialogue. “The NDA high command is restating our commitment to attack the interest of oil corporations and international refineries operators that bring in vessels to the Niger Delta territory to buy our oil that every successive government has refused to use and reapply the proceeds towards any development in the region since 1958. “If they refuse to heed our advice, it would result to the sinking of two of their mother vessels as examples to others. They should not undertake any repair of the pipeline, oil and gas facilities that is damaged or attacked by our forces during this period of “Operation Red Economy” until and after the dialogue.” Meanwhile, a prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has warned a former Governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, to desist from ridiculing and discrediting him and other Niger Delta leaders. The nonagenarian specifically told Adamu to stop spreading falsehood and accusing him of not showing concern following the emergence of the Niger Delta Avengers. Clark said as a father, he had played his roles towards the maintenance of peace in the zone. Clark, in a statement by his Legal Adviser, Mr. Dotun Sowemimo, on Monday in Abuja, faulted the claim, saying he had on many occasions cautioned the militants. He, however, called on the NDA members and other groups to stop all activities that were inimical to the pipeline and oil facilities in the Niger Delta and embrace dialogue. “Chief Clark is, once again, using this medium to call on the Niger Delta Avengers and other groups to stop all activities inimical to the pipeline and oil facilities in the Niger Delta and embrace the three weeks ceasefire offered by this administration to embrace dialogue.” Sowemimo stated. According to him, Adamu lied by accusing Clark of showing lackadaisical attitude in stopping the militants from bombing oil installations. Sowemimo recalled that Clark on May 17, 2016, strongly called and appealed on the Niger Delta Avengers and any other groups of like mind, to desist, forthwith from their activities and embrace dialogue as the best means of having their grievances assuaged. According to him, Clark reiterated his support for the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari, when he insisted that it should be fought to the end

The Federal Government has said that it has kept its words by commencing job creation across the country in fulfillment of its campaign promises.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Monday at the South-South Town Hall Meeting organised by his ministry. He said that construction and ancillary workers have started returning to work in droves as contractors are mobilized back to the various road construction projects across the country.
”As more and more road construction works resume in the days ahead, thousands of Nigerians will also be returning to work.”
The Minister also said the recruitment of 500,000 teachers had commenced through the online portal ‘npower.gov.ng’, while listing other direct job creation and training schemes that are ongoing now as the N-Power Knowledge, which is training 25,000 Nigerians in technology, and N-Power Build, which is training another 75,000 Nigerians in building services. According to him, the Federal Government is exploring the agricultural sector for massive job creation through the repositioning of the River Basin Development Authorities.
“Still talking about jobs, an agreement has been signed to reposition the River Basin Development Authorities within the next 18-24 months. The agreement between the River Basin Development Authorities and the Songhai Farms of Benin Republic includes the training of unemployed youths in integrated farm practice. This programme is complimentary to the upcoming Youth Agriculture Empowerment Programme being planned by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

Photos-All the victims of Orlando gay club shooting

The Niger Delta Avengers on Monday said it was ready for a dialogue with the Federal Government.
The militants, however, gave conditions for the peace talk.
In a statement published on its website, the group said the Federal Government must suspend the purchase of crude oil from the Niger Delta region.
The militants also asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to turn the proposed peace talk and dialogue to a political jamboree.

The group said it only needed a genuine attitude and conducive atmosphere that would “make us commit to any proposed dialogue and lasting peace talk.”
In the statement signed by the NDA’s spokesperson, Mudoch Agbinibo, the militants also asked the Federal Government to involve member states of the multinational oil corporations to commit independent mediators to the proposed dialogue.
It said the peace talk would set up a framework for achieving the short, medium and long-term demands of the Niger Delta to bring about a lasting peace.
The statement partly read, “If need be, we may review our earlier stance of not taking lives. We are going to redirect and reactivate all our activities if the government, oil companies and their services firms don’t heed to these modest warnings of not carrying out any repair works and suspend the buying of crude oil from our region as we await the right atmosphere that would engender genuine dialogue.
“The NDA high command is restating our commitment to attack the interest of oil corporations and international refineries operators that bring in vessels to the Niger Delta territory to buy our oil that every successive government has refused to use and reapply the proceeds towards any development in the region since 1958.
“If they refuse to heed our advice, it would result to the sinking of two of their mother vessels as examples to others. They should not undertake any repair of the pipeline, oil and gas facilities that is damaged or attacked by our forces during this period of “Operation Red Economy” until and after the dialogue.”
Meanwhile, a prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has warned a former Governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, to desist from ridiculing and discrediting him and other Niger Delta leaders.
The nonagenarian specifically told Adamu to stop spreading falsehood and accusing him of not showing concern following the emergence of the Niger Delta Avengers.
Clark said as a father, he had played his roles towards the maintenance of peace in the zone.
Clark, in a statement by his Legal Adviser, Mr. Dotun Sowemimo, on Monday in Abuja, faulted the claim, saying he had on many occasions cautioned the militants.
He, however, called on the NDA members and other groups to stop all activities that were inimical to the pipeline and oil facilities in the Niger Delta and embrace dialogue.
“Chief Clark is, once again, using this medium to call on the Niger Delta Avengers and other groups to stop all activities inimical to the pipeline and oil facilities in the Niger Delta and embrace the three weeks ceasefire offered by this administration to embrace dialogue.” Sowemimo stated.
According to him, Adamu lied by accusing Clark of showing lackadaisical attitude in stopping the militants from bombing oil installations.
Sowemimo recalled that Clark on May 17, 2016, strongly called and appealed on the Niger Delta Avengers and any other groups of like mind, to desist, forthwith from their activities and embrace dialogue as the best means of having their grievances assuaged.
According to him, Clark reiterated his support for the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari, when he insisted that it should be fought to the end

Photos-All the victims of Orlando gay club shooting

These are the victims of the worst mass shooting in American history. Forty-nine people were shot dead after a gunman opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando in the early hours of Sunday after pledging allegiance to ISIS. So far 48 victims have been officially identified by the city of Orlando on its website.
Pictured: Top (L-R):Anthony Laureano, Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, Luis Vielma, Xavier Eman Serrano, Kimberly Morris, Oscar Aracena-Montero, Eric Ortiz, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, Stanley Almodovar III, Amanda Alvear.
Second row (L-R): Eddie Justice, Deonka Deidra Drayton, Jean Carlos Mendez Perez , Peter Gonzalez-Cruz, Martin Benitez Torres, Mercedez Flores, Juan Ramon Guerrero, Edward Sotomayor Jr, Stanley Almodovar III, Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera.
Third row (L-R): Enrique Rios, Darryl Roman Burt II, Javier Jorge-Reyes, Tevin Eugene Crosby, Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, Christopher Leinonen, Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, Shane Tomlinson, Antonio Davon Brown.
Bottom line (L-R): Lestat Wilson, Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, Leroy Valentin Fernandez, Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, Miguel Honorato, Cory James Connell, Jason Benjamin Josaphat, Luis Daniel Conde, Juan Rivera and Angel Candelario.4

500,000 teachers’ recruitment portal crashes on day one

Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu

The recruitment of 500,000 teachers by the Federal Government might have run into a hitch as the website for the exercise crashed on Sunday following what was suspected to be massive applications by prospective candidates.
The Federal Government had, last week, announced that the recruitment of the teachers would commence on Sunday, directing interested Nigerians to apply through http://portal.npower.gov.ng.
But attempts by one of our correspondents to register on the portal around 6.48pm on Sunday failed as the website was not available.
Checks indicated that the portal might have crashed due to heavy traffic.

The website carries a message, “An error occurred. Sorry, the page you are looking for is currently unavailable. Please, try again later. If you are the system administrator of this resource, then you should check the error log for details. Faithfully yours, nginx.”
When contacted for the number of applications through the website so far, the Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Education, Anthony Akuneme, said it was too early to know the number.
He said, “The recruitment process is on. The website has been publicised in the media. It is too early to get the response and number of applicants since it just began.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had, in his Democracy Day speech, said the recruitment of the teachers would commence on June 12.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, also stated that the recruitment would be done online.
Akande, in a statement last Wednesday, said the 500,000 Teacher Corps, nicknamed N-Power Teach on the portal, was one of the three direct job creation and training schemes established by the current administration.
Others, according to him, are N-Power Knowledge, which will train 25,000 Nigerians in technology, and N-Power Build, which will train another 75,000 in building services, construction, utilities, hospitality and catering, automotive vocation, aluminium and gas services.
He explained that all trainees would be paid for the duration of their training.
Akande added, “The N-Power Teacher Corps initiative, which will engage and train 500,000 young unemployed graduates, is a paid volunteer programme of two-year duration.”

Photos: Youths in Akwa Ibom disrupt FG townhall meeting

Some youths in Akwa Ibom disrupted proceedings at the Federal Government Townhall meeting that took place at the Le Meridian Hotel in the state today. The youths drawn from different organizations, stormed the venue and began chanting songs of solidarity and demanding the execution of key projects such as the Lagos-Calabar railway. They were pacified by the Minister of Transport, Chibuike Amaechi, afterwhich they left the venue. More photos after the cut…

VP Yemi Osibanjo’s daughter graduates with Master’s degree in the U.S.(Photo)

One of the Vice president’s Yemi Osibanjo’s daughter graduated with master’s degree at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, U.S….
Giving God glory at our daughter’s graduation! A master’s degree and the Byam Shaw-Brownstone M.A.L.S. Thesis Excellence Award at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire “her excellency Dolapo Osibanjo wrote

Stunner! Nicole Murphy puts sexy curves on display

The 48 year old mother of five and Eddie Murphy’s ex-wife looked amazing in jeans and a backless top..
She is one of the sexiest women in Hollywood.

Policemen torture student for demanding to know offence

A Mass Communication student of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Taiwo Rasaq, has lamented that some policemen attached to the Owutu Police Division tortured and detained him unlawfully.
Rasaq claimed that the only “crime” he committed was demanding to know the reason for his arrest.
The victim, who was apprehended during a raid in the Agric area of Ikorodu, said he parted with N30,000 before he regained his freedom.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Rasaq was about to disembark from a tricycle when the policemen picked him up around 9.30pm on May 30.
He said the policemen arrested 30 others and whisked them away to the station, adding that he was slapped several times when he requested to know his offence.
He said, “On May 30, around 9.30pm, I was coming from Egbeda in a tricycle. As I was about alighting at Ori-Okuta, in the Agric area, some policemen from the Owutu division arrested me. They arrested many people including those that went to buy bread and garri for dinner.
“When we got to the station, we met over 30 boys who had also been arrested like us. I demanded to know why I was arrested, but they did not answer. A few minutes after, they told me to remove my clothes and drop my belongings, but I refused.
“I told them I would not undress until I knew why I was arrested. I asked them to allow me make my statements and call my people. Three of them walked up to me and slapped me several times.
“One of them said, ‘You think you know the law, you will sleep in the cell tonight’.
“I kept telling them that I deserved to know my offence and if they couldn’t tell me, then it’s a kidnap. One of them slapped me again, while others manhandled me, so I kept quiet.”
Rasaq said the policemen allegedly collected between N5,000 and N10,000 from others, but he paid N30,000 for being ‘stubborn’ before he was released.
“We were over 70 that they arrested. They didn’t interrogate us or allow us to write any statement. The following morning, the bargain started from N10,000 and they threatened to move us to the Kirikiri Prisons. People begged and they agreed to take N5,000.

“My people begged them as well, they collected N30,000 from me for being stubborn.
Two other officers said they would not allow me go until I paid them another N1,000 privately, which I did. Though I couldn’t take pictures of the officers, I took their names and tags. They are: Odetunde Taofeek of Force Number 366967 and Iniobong Bassey of Force Number 023349,” he added.
Another victim, Yemi Ajayi, who resides in Igbo Olomu Junction, said he had attempted to explain to the policemen that a 15-year-old boy they arrested was his son’s friend, when he was beaten up and arrested.
He said, “I was in front of my wife’s shop around 9pm when the boy was shouting my name. I went to meet the police and told them who the boy was, but they did not listen. They hit me with the butt of their gun, fired tear gas canisters and threw me inside their van. The DPO was there too; he didn’t listen to me. It was my people that came to pay for my bail the next day and I was taken to a hospital. As I speak with you, I am still in pains.”
The Officer-in-Charge of the Nigeria Police Complaint Response Unit, CSP Abayomi Shogunle, said the raid was to rid Ikorodu of cult groups and violent attacks.
He said, “It is a week-long operation and it is in response to recent cult-related attacks in Ikorodu town. Some of the apprehended persons, found not to be linked to the ongoing investigation, have been released after initial screening, while 120 persons of interest arrested at different locations have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.”
The Lagos State Police spokesperson promised to get back to our correspondent on the incident.
Punch

Dolapo Osinbajo and kids in beautiful family potrait

The vice president’s wife shared this beautiful pic with her three kids.