Photonews: Group Resignation Letter By Deputy Comprollers-General Of Nigeria Customs Service

News Release: As Afreximbank Forum Opens, Seychelles Vice President Calls For Frameworks That Foster Economic Growth

Vice President Danny Faure of Seychelles declares open the Afreximbank Second Annual Customer Due Diligence and Corporate Governance Forum. Sitting on the high table (L-R) Jean Paul Adam, Minister of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy of Seychelles; Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah; and Caroline Abel, Governor, Central Bank of Seychelles.

Africans have a collective responsibility to put in place frameworks that would foster economic growth on the continent, Danny Faure, Vice President of Seychelles, said today in Mahe in Seychelles.

News Release: 60 Constitutional Sins & Breaches Of Buhari’s Presidency & 150 Days In Office Without Cabinet

Presiden Buhari

Today ( 29th day of October 2015) marks 150 days in office of the Buhari’s Presidency as Nigeria’s sixth civilian instituted Presidency, having been constitutionally sworn in and administered with oaths of office and allegiance on 29th May 2015. It is also observed by the Intersociety that Nigeria has in the past 150 days (29th May 2015 till date) been run and administered without a functional federal cabinet or government by Buhari’s Presidency.  In furtherance of our firm promise five months ago to keep the Buhari’s Presidency on its toes by providing constructive assessment of all his policies and actions and steadily raise alarms over destructive and retrogressive or likelihood of destructive and retrogressive policies and actions; we wish to inform Nigerians and members of the international community that we have empirically identified at least 60 constitutional  sins and breaches in the past 150 days of the Buhari’s Presidency and the sins and breaches have continued to increase as we write.

News Release: Of Criminal Fulani Herdsmen And Uncultured Kwankwaso

Kwankwaso

In a replay of the sordid episode of 2000 when Arewa leaders  rudely stormed the office of then Oyo state governor, Alhaji Lam Adesina on behalf  of nomadic cattle rearers, former Kano state governor and serving Senator, Rabiu Kwakwanso came with verbal daggers to the same city at the weekend asking the age mates of his father to "shut up".

U-Report: Madonna University Torture Story Latest

Report By Jude Anthony

Highlights:

University management lifts embargo on use of camera phones

NANS writes management, set for a showdown

Alumni group sets up helpline for other tortured students

U-Report: Muslims And Christians Mark Ashura In Kaduna

Report By Stephen Lawan

Muslims and some section of the Christian community have on Saturday commemorated the Day of Ashura by way of a procession in the city centre.

News Release: How DSS Compounds & Complicates Nnamdi Kanu’s Detention: From Judicial To Extra-Judicial Captivity

Kanu

Following torrential calls made to us and concerns expressed by millions of Nigerians, the media and foreign nationals and bodies over the ongoing ordeal of detained Citizen Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Radio Biafra (RB) who was given a controversial judicial bail on 19th October 2015 by the Abuja Municipal Magistrate Court, at Wuse (Zone 2); the leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) is sad and happy. This follows our latest findings and updates arising from our latest communications with the Counsel to Citizen Kanu (Barr Egechukwu Obetta) over the ordeal of the persecuted Biafran self-determination activist.

News Release: Brig-Gen Ransome-Kuti’s Ordeal In The Hands Of Nigerian Army; Our Encounter With Femi Falana & Emergence Of More Facts

Kuti

 It is recalled that the Intersociety has on 18th of October 2015, issued a public interest statement, titled: Probing Questions Over The Arrest Of Nnamdi Kanu & Dismissal Of Brig-Gen Ransome Kuti. The statement followed what we saw as unjust service treatment meted to detained Brig-Gen E.A. Ransome- Kuti leading to his sentencing to six months imprisonment and dismissal from the Nigerian Army on two-count allegation of infraction of the provisions of the Armed Forces Act (Cap A20), Laws of the Federation 2004. We also raised probing questions trailing the way and manner the 3,023 officers and personnel of the Nigerian Army were recalled and pardoned, while Brig-Gen Ransome-Kuti was singled out for indictment and conviction. We demanded and still demand that concrete answers to the raised probing questions should be provided publicly by the image department of the Nigerian Army.

News Release: Bukola Saraki Vs 180 Million Nigerians; A Justiciable Matter

Saraki

The rule of law is the foundation and bedrock of any democracy.  In a given democracy, there are matters that are not justiciable, because the matters are not envisaged to be within the purview of justice, such as international treaties between nations, or matters that are taken directly to the people, by way of a referendum; or legislative matters taken up by an appropriate legislature.

News Release: True Position Of Nnamdi Kanu’s Conditional Bail & Continued Detention: Another Vindication For Intersociety

Kanu

The leadership of Intersociety has been totally vindicated over its last night (20th October 2015) statement exposing flaws inherent in the widely reported news of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu’s conditional bail and continued detention by the Department of the State Security Services (DSS). The information about the conditional bail was half-baked and reportorially anomalous. For example, the following questions were not answered in the said media report: Was Nnamdi Kanu arraigned before a named Chief Magistrate Court or charged before a named Federal or FCT High Court? If he was so arraigned or charged, what charges were preferred against him? Who stood as prosecution team, AGF or DSS legal department? Were the charges bailable if he was arraigned before a Magistrate Court? Who was the presiding authority, Chief Magistrate or a Judge? Are the charges against him, if any, known to the 1999 Constitution or its subsidiary criminal laws, with their penalties clearly defined in written law? What date is the returned or adjourned date?  Was Citizen Nnamdi Kanu represented by any legal team and what are the identities of members of his legal team, if any?

News Release: Unanswered Questions Trailing Nnamdi Kanu’s Reported Bail & Continued Detention

Kanu

The leadership of Intersociety is worried over the sketchy situation on the ground pertaining to a conditional bail purportedly given yesterday (19th October 2015) to Citizen Nnamdi Kanu of the Radio Biafra, which was widely reported in the print and online media within and outside Nigeria. The widely publicized news of (sketchy) conditional bail, under reference, is by all intents and purposes, unreliable, sketchy and complicated. The legal and media angles to the said conditional bail are totally clothed with legal quackery and media mediocrity.

Article: Mr President, The Honeymoon is over! Are You The Change We Seek, Or Do We Look for Another?

President

By Kayode Ajulo

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never is, but always to be blessed:

The soul, uneasy and confined from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”

 – Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

Nigerians are generally a hardy people- resilient in the face of bleak circumstances. This trait perhaps is the singular reason the nation has survived the tumults of decades past, from independence till date. Our resilience as a people is a child of hope that “springs eternal in our hearts” apologies to British poet Alexander Pope.

News Release: Probing Questions Over The Arrest Of Radio Biafra’s Nnamdi Kanu & Dismissal Of Brig-Gen Ransome- Kuti

Radio Biafra’s Nnamdi Kanu

The arrest and custodial detention on Saturday (17th October 2015) by the DSS (Nigeria’s secret police), of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu of a self-determination group-called the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and director of the UK based Radio Biafra is unreservedly questionable and condemnable. Mr. Nnamdi Kanu was on in the country in exercise of his citizenship and statehood provided in the 1999 Constitution;  having been born and bred in Igbo ethnic nationality of Nigeria. He was arrested hours after he landed in the country from his UK base. His arrest has since been confirmed by his associates in UK and published on their website. Till this moment, the Federal Government and its Presidency has kept moot over his arrest and custodial detention; in reminiscence of State terror and brigandage during the dark military era.

Speech: “We Stand On The Shoulders Of Giants”

Chude Jideonwo

(Being Speech by Chude Jideonwo, CEO Of RED Media Celebrating Media Legends At The Red Summit Gala)

Article: In Defence Of Allah, Iran And Pilgrims

By Ibrahim Usman

On September 11, 2015, the fourteenth-year anniversary of the U.S. twin-tower attack, a crane on the loose belonging to the Bin Laden family (family of the suspected twin-tower master-mind) construction company handling work at the Haram, went berserk, and like a thunderbolt from hell crushed pilgrims in the precincts of the holy Ka’abah. Over 100 pilgrims lost their lives.

News Release: Corruption Is High On The Corporate Agenda In Nigeria

(Corruption is high on the corporate agenda in Nigeria, however rigorous implementation and enforcement are lacking)

Article: Beyond Buhari’s Cabinet Lies a Silver Lining for the Igbos

Buhari

 By SKC Ogbonnia

President Muhammadu Buhari’s long-awaited cabinet is now complete. As in any political endeavour, there are winners and losers.

News Release: Special Focus On Ebola And Emergent Infectious Diseases

Merck Living Innovation , UNESCO, and the Minister of State for Health of Uganda will host an interactive webcast on 19 October, 09:30GMT, on the occasion of the UNESCO Merck Africa Research Summit to be held on the 19th and 20th of October in Geneva, Switzerland.

Special Report: Second List Ministerial Nominees Unveiled By The Nigerian Senate On 13th October, 2015

President Buhari

1. Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim -Yobe

2. Brigadier-General Muhammad Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd)-Zamfara

3. Claudius Omoleye Daramola -Ondo

4. Prof Anthony Onwuka-Imo

5. Jeffery Onyema

News Release: Experimentation Of Third World War In Syria & Threats To United Nations At 70

September 2015 marked the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations. The UN was formed following the Atlantic Charter of 1941 and the Yelta Conference of 1945. The UN Charter was later proclaimed on 26th June 1945, after which the month of September of every year was set aside to mark the birth of the world’s Confederated Body. The United Nations has its origin traced to the Roman Empire, destroyed by its 30 years civil war of 1618-1648. The Roman Empire was replaced by the Holy Alliance, which ended in 1818 and was replaced by the Concert of Europe that lasted till 1919 when the League of Nations was formed, courtesy of Woodrow Wilson’s Four Solutions strategy to ensure world peace and security, which included human rights. The League of Nations collapsed in 1945 leading to the formation of the United Nations same year. The League of Nations was formally wound up in 1946.

News Release: One Day Sensitization Rally In Support Of Takeover Of Power Distribution Company

Civil society organizations in Abia State calls on the Aba Resident and Traders to support the takeover of Aba Electricity Distribution by the Aba Power Distribution Company

News Release: “Masterweb” CEO’s Case Against Nigeria

Chief Charles O. Okereke

Chief Charles O. Okereke is the Founder & CEO of the Nigerian Masterweb News, based in Milwaukee, Wi 53209, United States and born in Ndi-Elendu, Alayi in Abia State, Nigeria on 29th July 1956 (59yrs). He won then Imo State Government scholarship to study in the United States. He later earned Bachelors of Science Degree (B.Sc.) -1975-1979 and Masters of Science Degree (M.Sc.)-1980-1981 in Agric from the Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States. Chief Charles O. Okereke later founded the Nigeria’s premier online news called the Nigerian Masterweb in the year 2000. The Nigerian Masterweb is one of the earliest, if not the first Nigerian online news through which newspapers were read online in those days.Chief Okereke’s successful exploits in media and communications also saw him composing God Bless Africa (the unofficial African Anthem) in 2002, Rise Up For Africa in 2003 and All Hail Biafra (song inspirationally composed at the end of the Nigerian-Biafran Civil War in 1970, but recorded in 2003).

News Release: The Imperative Of Common Sense As Against Unsubatantiated Allegations And Campaign Of Calumny.

Fashola

The Lagos Integrity Group (LIG) is a frontline citizen advocacy and human right organization. With membership across the length and breadth of Lagos State, LIG as a group, takes into consideration activities of government and organizations at all levels particularly as it concerns accountability and the rights of citizens and its protection at all times.

News Release: Afreximbank Forum To Tackle Corporate Governance And Due Diligence Challenges

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is to host the second edition of its Annual Customer Due Diligence and Corporate Governance Forum in Seychelles from 29 to 30 October in bid to build momentum for a collaborative African approach to addressing the unique challenges confronting African financial institutions in the field of corporate governance and customer due diligence.

News Release: Departing From Crude To Modern Soldiering

The public announcement late yesterday (08/10/2015) to the effect that the Chief of Defense Staff (Gen Gabriel Olonisakin) has inaugurated a 10-member committee to study the doctrines and procedures of the military and come up with workable plans to renew the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) is a welcome development and a clear departure from hitherto “jack of all knowledge and master of nonentity” approach of various public institutions in Nigeria including the country’s public coercive or security institutions. The Nigerian Military statement under reference was signed by Group Captain Wap Maigida late yesterday in Abuja on behalf of Acting Director Defence Information, Col. Rabe Abubakar and was reported in the media including the News Express Online.

Article: Succumbing To Political Theater

President Buhari

By S. Okey Mbonu

The wait is finally over, The Nigerian president has submitted his list of cabinet appointees to the country’s Senate, for confirmation hearings.  We gather that confirmation hearings in Nigeria are typically a shoo-in affair, because no political appointee has ever been disapproved by the Nigerian Senate.  Further, in this particular case, the leadership of the Senate is itself embroiled in an ethical and corruption imbroglio, with the Senate President awaiting his day in court, over declaration of assets charges.  However, we shall address these corruption issues in a subsequent release.

Open Letter: Petition Against Nomination Of Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) As Minister

Fashola

Senator Bukola A. Saraki, (CON)

The President of the Senate,

National Assembly,

Three Arms Zone,

Abuja.

Distinguished Senate President,

Petition Against Nomination Of Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) As Minister

We bring greeting and good tidings to you and the entire membership of the Red chamber of the National Assembly.

We write as members of the third sector, 'Get Involved Campaign'. A team of Young dynamic Nigerians whose advocacy is to get people involved in the act of governance and ensuring things are done properly. Constructive criticism is our hallmark.

News Release: Chasing Bombers With Machetes

By Criminological account, Insurgency is an attempt by organized recalcitrant or radical elements to unseat a legally constituted government or force it to change its existing socio-legal system for the purpose of foisting its radical ideological belief on the polity. This they do through subversion, terrorism, sabotage and espionage all cloak in sophisticated and asymmetric violent methodologies. Insurgency is also a form of military conflict characterized by small lightly armed bands (cells) practicing guerrilla warfare usually from rural or remote areas for the purpose of forcing the existing government to yield to their usually radical demands or be ousted in order to effect violent reversion of the society to their needs, values and interests. Insurgents, on their part, are citizens of a country attempting by illegal and radical means to change the way a country is governed because the existing socio- legal methods cannot satisfy their demands. Their interests, needs and values could be political, economic and ethno-religious belief or values.

Special Report: President Buhari’s Ministerial Nominees As Announced By The Senate President Tuesday, 6th October, 2015

President Buhari

1. Rotimi Amaechi 

2. Babatunde Fashola 

3. Adebayo Shittu 

4. Audu Ogbeh

5. Kayode Fayemi

News Release: South Africa Retains Ranking In 2015 Ibrahim Index Of African Governance

(South Africa has retained its rank of 4 of 54 countries assessed in the Index)

U-Report: Sheikh Zakzaky Stressed The Need For Collective Effort Towards Reformation Of Society

Sheikh Zakzaky

Report By Stephen Lawan

At the sixth edition of the Annual Sallah Feast organized by the Resource Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, His Eminence Allama Sayyed Ibraheem Zakzaky said, only through collective effort that sustained development can be achieved in any nation.

News Release: PWC Enjoyed Double Digit Growth In Africa And The Middle East

The PwC network reported total global gross revenues of US$35.4 billion for the fiscal year ended on 30 June 2015. At constant exchange rates, PwC's total global revenues rose by 10%. This is up markedly from the previous year and the strongest year-on-year growth that the network has seen since FY07. Growth was strong across all lines of business and in all geographic regions.

Advertorial: The Territory Of Used Stuff, Or Why Classifieds

“And why not?” we’ll ask. Let’s say that pre-owned stuff doesn’t mean old or damaged. Jiji.ng is the best evidence here. Anyone has the ability to post free adverts in order to inform people about selling something. The service is available all over Nigeria, and you can find what you need as easily as post an advert. Speaking about those, they all consist of detailed description with all necessary information, a photo, and contacts. Check it out and make sure there is some pretty good stuff there.

News Release: Value of Dual Citizenship For Africans Wishing To Take Advantage of Opportunities Within Continent, Abroad

(It is estimated that only around 1% of the world’s population have two or more passports, making dual citizenship an exclusive privilege)

U-Report: Lagos Government Accused of Alleged Subversion of Justice

Prophet Joshua of Synagogue

Report By Nicolas Nice

The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CCSOs) has accused the Lagos State Government of trying to subvert justice in the on-going trial involving Synagogue Church of All Nations and the state.

Photonews: President Buhari And The Pigeon That Was Reluctant To Fly

Article: Our Governor Is Rewarding Thieves

Governor Okorocha of Imo State

By Kenneth Uwadi

Last week Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State called Imo Civil Servants thieves claiming they are more corrupt than politicians. The statement credited to the governor was reported by the National Gazette newspaper. The governor’s reason for his government’s wicked denial of workers and pensioners their stipends for months is because of ghost workers fixed to payroll by some corrupt civil servants. We are still waiting for him to point out the civil servants in Imo state involved in this ghost workers thing so that we can shame them.

News Release: 120 Days Without Government In Nigeria

President Buhari

The supernatural universe or post physical (transformative) world is obviously in grief over the turn of events in Nigeria under the Presidential Sole-Administratoship of retired Gen Muhammadu Buhari. The height of grief and contempt above mentioned is the fact that Buhari’s Presidential Sole Administratorship has spent 120 days in office without government.  It is extremely important to state here that formation of government under a constitutional democracy means legitimizing electoral power and authority derived the electoral populace. In Parliamentary system, government is in place when there is a council of ministers. In Presidential system laid upon constitutional democracy, government is in place when there is executive cabinet or Federal Executive Council.

U-Report: Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky Says Management of Hajj Is The Responsibility Of The Muslims World

Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky

Report By Stephen Lawan

His Eminence, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky says the management of hajj pilgrimage and the two holy mosques and other sanctities in Saudi Arabia is the responsibility of the Muslims world, and not exclusive reserve of the Al-Saud royal family.