Today's National Newspaper Headlines/News Saturday Edition - 16/5/2015

Good Morning....Lovely day huh?

Kisses to my ''Honey'' if he/she/it is reading this..LMAO!

PUNCH

*** N172bn Fraud Cases Against Ex-Govs Turned Senators

Investigation by Saturday Punch has shown that over N172bn fraud cases are against some senators-elect who were formerly governors.

Over 15 ex-governors won senate seats in the March 28 election with many of them having cases of corruption ranging from misappropriation of public funds to money laundering hanging over their necks.

Some ex-governors have been in the senate before the last elections while a fresh set of former governors will be joining them when the new legislature is inaugurated on June 6, 2015 by the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

The list of the ex-governors elected as senators, who allegedly have fraud cases against them, whether old or new, include Bukola Saraki, Theodore Orji, Adamu Aliero, Sam Egwu, Joshua Dariye, Danjuma Goje and Abdullahi Adamu.

The immunity clause in Nigeria’s constitution protects the President, vice-president, governors and their deputies from prosecution while in office but even after these public office holders leave office, findings show that anti-graft agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have failed to pursue their cases to logical conclusions.

Meanwhile, some Senior Advocates of Nigeria on Friday urged the anti-corruption agencies and the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration to follow through the pending corruption charges instituted against the former governors who are now senators-elect.

The SANs – Prof. Itse Sagay, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, Messrs Femi Falana and Yusuf Ali- said the anti-corruption agencies, particularly, the EFCC, had no excuse for failing to ensure that the cases were brought to logical conclusion.

***N9bn For Buhari’s Ministers, Lawmakers Outrageous – Nigerians

A cross section of Nigerians have condemned the planned payment of about N9bn as perks to ministers and lawmakers who will assume office in the government of President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), as recently reported by Saturday Punch.

The newspaper on May 9, 2015, in an investigative report, said lawmakers to constitute the 8th National Assembly and ministers to be appointed by Buhari would receive N9bn as perks on assumption of office.

The perks include housing, furniture and motor vehicle allowances, among others.

For instance, the housing allowance for the lawmakers is 200 per cent of their annual salaries; furniture is 300 per cent and motor vehicle loan is 400 per cent.

The report, which has been read about 40,000 times on punchng as of Friday, generated mixed reactions from the public, many of who demanded pay cut for political office holders in the country.

The readers questioned the payment of such allowances at a time the country’s revenue has dipped.

The readers lamented that “All the furniture, car, whatever allowances are unnecessary and recommend pay as you go allowances for senators and members of the House of Representatives ie that is, payment should be done based on sitting, and shouldn’t be more than N300, 000 for senators and N200, 000 for members of the House of Representatives.

“Minister for state positions should be scrapped immediately as they are wasteful. Ministers’ salary should not be more than N150, 000 per month. However, they can have leverage in the purchase of houses or cars since they are government servants.”

They described the allowance package for the lawmakers and ministers as “alarming” and “ridiculous.”

The Nigerians said it was unfair for the predominantly poor taxpayers to be funding the lavish lifestyle of political office holders.

***Nwosu Faults Gowon’s Comment On Ojukwu

A former Minister of Health and member of the Ime-obi (inner caucus) of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. ABC Nwosu, on Friday, faulted the comment by a former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, that the leader of the defunct Biafra, the late Chief Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, underestimated him by thinking that he (Gowon) would not fight the Nigeria Civil War.

Gowon had said at the Diamond Jubilee Lecture of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria in Lagos on Thursday that Ojukwu, who was the then governor of the Eastern Region, thought his (Gowon’s) Christian disposition would allow the South-East to secede from Nigeria without consequences.

Gowon said, “During the crisis, my colleague and brother, Emeka Ojukwu, said, “We know Gen. Gowon, he is a Christian and he would not like to fight. Do you know the first thing he puts in his suitcase? His Bible; and that will make him not to engage in a fight. I think unfortunately, he was proved wrong.”

But reacting to Gowon’s statement, Nwosu described the former head of state’s comments as anti-Igbo.

According to Nwosu, Gowon’s comment is an attempt to demonise Ojukwu after his death.

The former minister noted that Gowon underestimated Ojukwu’s capacity to resist the federal troops for a long period of time.

He said Gowon’s comments did not correspond with the accounts of other major actors in the events that precipitated the civil war.

Nwosu said, “I wish to express my growing concern over attempts to demonise Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who died more than three years ago.

“These posthumous comments on Ojukwu are, at best, ‘ungentlemanly’ and anti-Igbo culture.

“Ndigbo don’t speak of the dead flippantly.

“The latest comment by Gen. Yakubu Gowon that Ojukwu never imagined that he would go to war because he was a born-again Christian is appalling and naive.

“Did the General not also underestimate Ojukwu and Biafra?

“The book by Gen. Alabi-Isama tells a different story.”

Nwosu added that Gowon’s opinion on the Aburi Accord was also contrary to the views of Ndigbo and Ojukwu on the same subject.

He said, “Ndigbo worldwide share this concern of mine because earlier Gen. Gowon has given his opinion on the Aburi Accord, which differs completely from the opinion of Ndigbo and Ojukwu on the same Aburi Accord.

“There are always two sides to a story and fairness demands that the two sides should always be weighed side by side.”

Nwosu, however, urged Gowon and others who played key roles during the civil war to let the sleeping dog lie.

***We Get Many Complaints Against Obasanjo Foundation –UK Commission

The United Kingdom Charity Commission says it has received many complaints about the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation in London concerning allegations of financial misconduct and conflicts of interest.

The UKCC’s spokesperson, Sarah Hitchings, told Punch correspondent in an email that the commission had also started a broad investigation into the matters because the foundation had violated its regulatory standards.

She said, “We have received complaints about this charity and issues including alleged conflicts of interest and alleged financial misconduct.

“We currently have an open case in relation to this charity and have been in contact with the trustees.

“We have recently become aware of further information about potential wrong-doing at the charity which is of regulatory concern to the commission and we are currently considering this new information. We cannot comment further while our case is live.”

Meanwhile, the commission refused to comment on any actions taken against the recently sacked London-based Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Anne Welsh, on allegations of money laundering.

“We cannot give information about a charge on the chief executive officer – this would be a question for the Police,” Hitchings added.

•Speakership: fresh crisis over bid to change voting Rules

• Salaries: Workers demand cut in governors’ security votes

• I, not Soyinka, founded FRSC –Salawu

• Boko Haram recaptures Marte in Borno

• Again, NNPC fails to remit $1.48bn into Federation Account

• Don’t pre-empt us, PDP committee cautions members

• Sure-P: Kaduna APC legislators accuse Yero of looting

• Buhari, Osinbajo, Tinubu, others attend Oshiomhole’s wedding

• Lagos consumes 40% of power generated nationally –Sambo

• Boko Haram kills 55 in Borno villages

• Fayose carpets Oni over popularity comment

• Sea pirates rape passengers on Bakassi waterways

• Robbers defy police, attack Port Harcourt residents in front of station

• Lotto operator, customers cheat death as tipper crashes into shop

• Why I didn’t feature Banky W, Wizkid in my album –Skales

• I’m richer after leaving my ex-wife –Zaki Azzay

• Ajah residents lament as robbers take over community

VANGUARD

• Abuja fire: Ministry denies burning of account dept

• Speaker: APC Govs set for showdown with Reps-elect

• Money Laundering: Retract yourself; Aregebsola’s counsel tells Osun PDP Boss

• Nwosu disagrees with Gowon over comment on Ojukwu

• Senate Presidency: Kwara group supports Saraki

• You can’t challenge NASS in the act of law-making – Robert Clarke

• Kaduna: As governor Yero faces debt owed before he was born el-Rufai laments

• Chuka Umunna: The man who wanted to be British Prime Minister

Rising star Umunna quits UK Labour leadership race

• Olam to mill 200,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice in Nassarawa

• FG harmonises tax, levies nationwide – Okonjo-Iweala

• Yvonne Nelson leads Ghanaian celebrities on protest

• World Cup: Nigeria promises Falcons N.08b

TRIBUNE

•Behave and emulate Mandela, PDP tells Buhari

•NOUN law programme: We will protect the rights of our students —VC

•Sierra Leone president's wife succeeds Patience Jonathan as Africa's  first ladies president

•Civil defence arrests 60 vandals, seals off 30 security companies in  Lagos

•Burundi govt arrests failed coup leader

•FG, states, LGs share N388bn April allocation

•Again, 3 women kidnapped in Ekiti

•Jonathan has set good examples for future elections in Nigeria —Fape

•Why new Ibadan Chief Imam and I are exceptional achievers —Ajimobi

•Lagos State University resumes May 18

 GUARDIAN

•Presidential panel wants amnesty for B’Haram, civilian ‘JTF’, others

•Military Relax Five-Hour Curfew Amid Vehicular Restrictions In  Maiduguri

•Major Problem Of Warri Refinery Is Lack Of Crude, Says Esele

•I Am Happy To Be Married Again, Says Oshiomhole

•Iheanacho, Awoniyi Top List As Garba Names Squad

•Director General, Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Atoki

•Consumer Rights: Stakeholders Blame Regulators For Violation At  Conference.