What you should know about Peter OBI - ITREALMS

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Very sure every Nigerian of a voting age must have heard about Mr. Peter Gregory OBI, (CON) who was born on 19th July, 1961 at Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria.

A Nigerian to the core, Peter Obi is married with two children. He attended the popular Christ the King College also known as CKC Onitsha where he obtained his West African School Certificate (WASC). From CKC, he went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to obtain B.A. in Philosophy.

He is widely read and has since acquired more knowledge having attended the Chief Executive Programme of the Lagos Business School, Nigeria; Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A. on Mid-to-Mid Marketing; Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A. on Changing the Game; London School of Economics on Financial Management/Business Policy; Columbia Business School, New York, U.S.A. on Marketing Management; and · Institute for Management Development, Switzerland for the Senior Executive Programme.

Soludo for Realnews Magazine 3rd lecture

ITRealms:

Renowned economist and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo has been confirmed to give the third anniversary lecture of Realnews Magazine, slated for Lagos at Oriental Hotel, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this to ITRealms, the publisher, Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited, Maureen Chigbo, said plans have been advanced to ensure the successful third anniversary lecture on Thursday, November 19, 2015. 

She said the choice of Prof. Soludo as the lecturer of this year is aligns with Realnews focus on the current doldrums, just as all the economic indices in the country now ranging from depleting foreign reserve, depreciating value of the naira, the double digit interest rates, high rate of unemployment especially amongst youth to inflation rate which is now on the increase show that there is need for a rethink of the economic direction Nigeria is heading, especially in this new civilian administration that most Nigerians want change.

She explained that immediately after the lecture, a panel of discussants would leverage on it to speak on how the manufacturing sector, the real estate sector and the management of national debt could contribute to dig the Nigerian economy out of its current doldrums amidst the dwindling revenue from the sale of crude oil at the international market. 

 

The panelists, she said, include Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Remi Ogunmefun, Director General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and Abraham Nwankwo, Director General, Debt Management Office. 

“Both the lecturer and all of the panelists have confirmed their attendance at the event,” she said.

Chigbo further said that the Special Guest of Honour is Senator Chris Ngige, former Governor of Anambra State and minister designate, while the chairman of the occasion is Alhaji Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Alpine Investments Services Limited. 

Chigbo noted that Hayatu-Deen, former managing director of the defunct FSB International Bank is one of the moving spirits behind the Nigerian Economic Summit. 

“They have also confirmed their attendance,” she said.

After the panel and interactive session, there will be an investiture of prominent Nigerians into the prestigious Realnews Hall of Fame, exclusively reserved for only Guest Speakers, Discussants, Book Reviewers and Chairpersons at our Anniversary Lecture Series.

Those to be inducted into the Realnews Hall of Fame are Professor Maurice Iwu, former chairman of INEC, Mr. Roberts Orya, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Dr. Ngozi Anyaegbunam, President, Media World, Mr. Benjamin Dikki, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises and Professor Joe. I. Ezigbo, Managing Director, Falcon Corporation Limited.

“They (inductees) all played key roles during our second anniversary Lecture and the induction into the Realnews Hall of Fame is just a token of our appreciation for the honour they did to Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited last year,” said Maureen Chigbo.

Chigbo equally said that the second volume of the Paragon of Journalism, co-edited by her and the late Mike Akpan, publisher/editor and editor-in-chief of Realnews magazine, respectively, will be presented at the event.  

Realnews, a general interest magazine, is an online publication which thrives on investigative journalism debuted November 19, 2012.

+Remmy 

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Ezeife blames Buhari for new pro-Baifra agitations

ITRealms:

The former governor of the old Anambra State, Chief Chuckwuemeka Ezeife, has blamed the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for the huge support pro-Biafra activists, otherwise known as Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) are getting in the South-East, reports ITRealms.

A chat statement credited to Chief Chuckwuemeka Ezeife on WhatsApp, showed that the agitation for Biafra which comes way back 45 years after civil war was seen as the problem.

He insisted that it is a world-wide fact that MASSOB is a movement for the actualization of Biafran state, but most of people see them as a pressure group.

Part of the chat showed that “It is in recent time that the group started gaining acceptability among serious politicians from the South-East. Otherwise the agitators are merely perceived as a pressure group. There is also the major problem of politicians from the South-East that aspire to become the President of Nigeria one day.

“That is why they have not identified with MASSOB. But what is happening presently is because of the way the country is going, especially the way the South-East is treated like unwanted part of the country. This triggers more recruits for MASSOB.

“From this stand, the fire of Biafra is stoked by the President Buhari-led administration. It is not a matter of autonomous growth or development. All his actions in the South-East in appointments and denial caused the increase in people buying into the MASSOB agenda. Because our people say: ‘A person rejected, does not reject himself.’”

And on whether that level of marginalization should prompt some groups to the extent of floating a pirate radio to achieve their cause, Ezeife noted “If you feel persecuted, of course you fight with whatever means you know is justified for you.”

On the recent arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, the Director of Radio Biafra by the DSS, which has triggered protests in major parts of South-East, the former governor said, “President Buhari is fueling the fire of Biafra with his actions, because everything done against the South-East is taken advantage of by MASSOB.”

Sincerely, he said that the way out of the wood is through prayers, but warned that it does not show that the grievances of the Igbo have not been adequately addressed, maintaining that it is clear that out of the six geo-political zones, all other parts have gotten appointments except the South-East.

“We have not seen any positive move towards the South-East, in the sense that we are denied one of the six major appointments in the country among the six geo-political zones.

Stressing that all these built-up to the current trend of support, recalling that Lai Muhammed, APC spokesperson while reacting on ministerial nominees, when he said that the South-East can secede if they like, that they have done it before. 

“Either you like it or not, there is need for the North to improve their attitude towards the South-East. Because if you hear statements like Nigeria is better off without Igbo, you will never be happy,” Ezeife cautioned.

He urged President Buhari to turn a new leaf and be guided by the Constitution of Nigeria and live by the oath he swore to.

“I have always praised the President anti-corruption policy,” he declared.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE +ITRealms DSA
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Senate confirms 18 ministerial nominees, Amaechi to wait

 ITRealms:

The Nigeria Senate, Wednesday, confirmed 18 ministerial nominees while the Former Governor of Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi was asked to wait till tomorrow, ITRealms reports authoritatively.

Confirming the already screened nominees, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, read the names of all nominees for confirmation and the House consented to all 18 nominees that were screened. They include Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu (Delta state), Abubakar Malami (Kebbi state), Chris Ngige (Anambra state), Aisha Jummai Alhassan (Taraba state), Solomon Dalong (Plateau state), Kemi Adeosun (Ogun state), Hadi Sirika (Katsina state).

Others are: Udoma Udo Udoma (Akwa Ibom state), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti state), Audu Ogbeh (Bayelsa state), Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi state), Osagie Ehanire (Edo state), Abdulrahman Dambazau (Kano state), Lai Mohammed (Kwara state), Amina J Mohammed (Gombe state), Suleiman Adamu (Jigawa state) and Ibrahim Jibril (Nasarawa state).

Meanwhile Rotimi Amaechi will wait till Thursday following inability of Senate committee on petition and privileges to submit finding on Amaechi, ITRealms gathered.  

In another development, President Muhammadu Buhari withdrew the name of immediate past Deputy Governor of Niger State, Ahmed Musa Ibeto from the list of ministerial nominees sent to the Senate. He was immediately replaced with Abubakar Bawa.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ED,OPs/GEE
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Eviction: Nwobodo heads to Appeal Court, insists judgment was erroneous

ITRealms:

Former Governor of the old Anambra State, Chief Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, has gone to the Appeal Court against the judgment of a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja, which ordered him to vacate his rented apartment in Maitama, insisting the Court erred in law, reports ITRealms.

Briefing newsmen Sunday in Abuja, counsel to Nwobodo, Mr. Amobi Nzelu, said his client has been residing in the property situated at 24 Ona Crescent, Plot 768 Cadastral Zone A5, Maitama Abuja for a very long time and wondered why the respondent decided to release the judgment to the media after two months but refused to inform the media of the Appeal against the judgment.

The respondent, Adin Miles International Limited, was said to have sometime in 2008 bought the property from one Alhaji Al-Mustapha Abubakar who had earlier leased the property to Nwobodo.

Nzelu said, "It is not about non-payment of rent as was wrongly reported in the media. My client was ready to pay rent. He was negotiating for an outright sale. The man that bought this property is a fellow Igbo man and knew that my client was occupying this house and that he was his former governor.

"Despite knowing these facts, he still went behind and bought the property, and then told his lawyer not to disclose his identity to my client. That was what happened. A Yoruba man will not do this to his brother, an Hausa man won't do this to his brother. My client had an agreement with the person that sold the house. We do not have any business with the new buyer. I have raised the issue in court, but the Judge closed his eyes on these issues."

In an Appeal suit No. FCT/HC/CV/80/2011 and filed at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal by his counsel (Nzelu), the ex-governor asked the Appellate Court to set aside the judgment of the lower court delivered on March 25 2015 by Justice Suleiman Belgore, in favour of the respondent, Adin Miles International Limited.

"The learned trial Judge erred in law when he failed to appreciate the fact that for title to vest in any person who purchase a property in Abuja, the consent of the Hon. Minister of the FCT, Abuja must be sought and obtained and this failure occasioned miscarriage of justice,” Nzelu observed.

Maintaining that the learned trial Judge erred in law when he entered judgment in favour of the respondent without seeing any deed of sale nor deed of assignment nor power of attorney and this occasioned miscarriage of justice.

The Judge, he also said, erred when he assumed jurisdiction to hear and determine the case “in the absence of valid documents" that will vest/clothe the court with jurisdiction.

Nzelu said, "We have been in possession of this property for a long time and the owner made an offer to sell it. He now went behind and picked up this property. My client went and discussed with this man. He even added N30 million to what the man originally paid to acquire it. When we took over this property, it was in a bad shape.

"We now went to court and the judgement was to come up in January this year, but it was deferred till March 25 because of the judiciary workers' strike. The man that went is not the original owner of this property. There was no breach of agreement between my client and him and they are not my client's landlord. There is no deed of sale on this property before they went to court. There is no agreement between my client and the man that went to court."

Nwobodo, he said, had six days after the judgment, specifically on March 31, appealed against it adding that the respondent was served the processes and motion for stay of execution, for which his counsel responded.

Thus, he prayed for "an order of this Court allowing this appeal and an order of this Court setting aside the judgment of the trial Court delivered on March 25 2015."

@Chuks Egbuna +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) 

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Pix: Former Governor, old Anambra State, Chief Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo,

Misappropriation of campaign funds: Ex-PDP governor, Presidency official fingered

ePolitics@ITRealms:

The latest in our newsroom indicates that a former governor has been fingered in the spate of embezzlement going on in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation, reports ITRealms.

The former governor has been seen with President Goodluck Jonathan at several rallies and functions of recent.

The former governor, who has an interest in a new generation bank where he was chairman at some point, attended a meeting with the President and a few others in January, where Jonathan ordered one of the prominent female ministers in his cabinet to release "some billions of naira to him" to oil the machinery of the campaign team, a source said.

The source said the money was "cornered" from some "big" government contractors.

The strategy is what is called "decoy" in government circles, where money to finance rallies, campaigns and advertisements will come from private individuals and not government officials.

The former governor has some people working with him to disburse the fund but he and a principal officer in the Presidency are alleged to have cornered a substantial part of the fund running into billions of naira. 

The money was said to have been first lodged in the bank where the former governor has interest.

The idea is to get commission on the fund and, if possible, "seize" or sit on the money till after election with the hope that once election is over, the money "expires".

Part of the money was meant to settle some opinion leaders critical of President Jonathan in the six geopolitical zones.

But it was learnt this was yet to be done. 

It was gathered that this was why Jonathan himself had to come to the South West to personally "settle some people" because he does not trust any of his aides brokering negotiations for him as most of such money allegedly ended in private pockets.

The lid on the misappropriation of the fund was blown open by a governorship aspirant in one of the South West states, who was part of the team but felt shortchanged. 

A livid Jonathan was said to have summoned a meeting where an outspoken Presidency official was shouted down by the President for being part of the scam. 

“He (the outspoken official) would have been fired immediately, but the President was advised not to do it now that election is just a few days away,” the source said.

Jonathan was said to have asked how the money was spent and "all sorts of names and companies were reeled out as having benefited from the money. Full page advert money for newspapers was doubled and tripled just to cover their tracks. 

"For example, they told the President that full page advert for Punch, ThisDay, Guardian is now N2 million 'political special rate', centrespread is N6 million and wrap around N70 million because of the election.

"But some media people like a woman managing a magazine at the meeting knew they were lying but surprisingly kept sealed lips. Cost of television commercials was also increased.

"But the problem is that when the money spent was totalled, it was not even up to one quarter of what was released to the team. It is like all of them know that Jonathan may lose the election. So, they are just trying to take whatever they can take before election day."

The embezzlement tale has also affected the media team as millions of naira have allegedly been stolen.

The over N150 million said to have been budgeted for online advertisement remains unaccounted for as earlier reported.

The source added: "The major problem is that nobody can really discipline the affected officers because the sleaze cuts across all the teams in the campaign organisation – procurement, media, logistics, mobilisation, security, etc. They are all helping themselves."

 

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