MMMG Co-Owner, Iyanya Hosts All-White Private Boat Party In Lagos

Iyanya is one Nigerian artist that had huge success this year with several multi-million naira deals, and sold-out concerts in Nigeria and abroad.
The co-owner of MMMG, and his crew got together for an all-white boat cruise, which set sail at the Lekki waterways to Ilase private beach, Lagos.
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Governor Fashola pays condolence visit to the Ogunro Family

The family of murdered Mr Sesan Ogunro during a condolence visit by Lagos State Governor, Raji Fashola on 25 December, 2013. A pic of popular music video director Sesan with Governor Fashola after the cut…

Jennifer Hudson Shows Off Her Dramatic Weight Loss

It looks as though J. Hud is now part of team slim waist! Werk!
Over the last few years, we’ve seen Jennifer Hudson drop major pounds as the spokesperson for Weight Watchers, and judging from a few new photos, she’s at her smallest size ever. This week, photos emerged of the actress in a bra and jeans combo and reactions from her fans varied, with some feeling as though she’s too thin [earlier in her career, she was told she was too big, so it seems as though she can't catch a break!].
It’s true that Jennifer looks even slimmer than usual, but it’s because she had to lose weight for a new movie titled “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete,” where she plays a heroin addict named Gloria. Back in October she told Huffington Post:
They did request that I lose about 10 pounds for [the movie.] I don’t know that I did. [Laughs] But for “Winnie,” I did. But for this one, it was just like, “Oh, if you could lose a little more weight.” But I did learn eventually that with heroin addicts, in doing our research, that it’s not necessarily like a physical thing where you’re too thin or too heavy. [Director George Tillman Jr.] had this thing where Gloria was so into her drugs that she sacrificed the food, like, “I don’t want to eat, I just want to get high.” So that’s what stemmed her to look like she’s lost weight or she wasn’t eating or taking care of herself.

Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala replies Sahara Reporters over Import waiver granted First Lady to import 200 cars

Sahara Reporters published a report a few days ago, claiming that the office of the 1st Lady obtained import waiver to import 200 BMW cars for her “Africa First Ladies” summit in 2012. The ministry of Finance says the report is false. Saharareporters insists it’s true & has responded. Find a statement from the ministry of finance below and SR’s response after the cut…

Saharareporter’s story on waiver granted office of the First Lady is a complete distortion 

The story by Saharareporters on the so-called waivers scandal in which the notorious news website made outrageous allegations against the Office of the First Lady is a false exclusive based on distorted information.

The website merely extracted and distorted information on the list of beneficiaries of the revised waivers policy which the Federal Ministry of Finance voluntarily published as part of its drive for transparency and accountability. Continue…

The revised waivers policy replaces the old regime of individual waivers with the objective of boosting key sectors such as agriculture, power, gas and mines/steel. The strategy is to deploy waivers as a stronger tool of economic development.

Part of the information published by the Federal Ministry of Finance was a list of state governments, private sector organizations and other institutions which were granted waivers to bring in vehicles for various events including sports festivals, conferences and workshops. This practice did not begin with the Jonathan administration.

Beneficiaries of the waivers for vehicle imports include state governments such as Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Lagos as well as organizations such as the continental First Ladies Forum which was granted a waiver for vehicles required for their event hosted by Nigeria. The First Lady did not in any way personally benefit from this waiver.

It is important to recall the fact that the country has a nascent leasing industry and no company in the sector currently has the quantity and quality of vehicles required for such events. Government is encouraging private sector organizations with the requisite focus and expertise in this area and the hope is that soon it would no longer be necessary to grant such waivers.

The resort to falsehood by Saharareporters based on a distortion of information voluntarily made available by government underscores the desperation of this scurrilous medium and its paymasters.

Paul C Nwabuikwu

Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance.
 

The Truth about the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Waiver Policy

1.      You may recall that the

Punch Newspaper published editorials accusing the government and the Federal Ministry of Finance of running a corrupt waiver policy, and challenged the Federal Ministry of Finance to publish those waivers. (http://bit.ly/1jCH3j4)

2.     The Federal Ministry of Finance categorically refutes the allegation that it is running a corrupt waiver policy.

3.      Two years ago the Executive introduced a total reform of the waiver policy. Waivers are now only granted on a sectoral basis. This means that every company in the sector enjoys the same waiver privileges. All companies or entities involved in a sector or given activity will benefit from the same waivers once they meet the necessary criteria.

4.      The Federal Ministry of Finance published an abbreviated version of the full waiver report in several newspapers. It was also announced that the full version is available at www.budgetoffice.gov.ng and on social media (http://on.fb.me/1fWHYG5).

5.      The SaharaReporters claim that the Federal Ministry of Finance surreptitiously released an updated waiver list on the web only on December 22^nd, 2013 is categorically false. In the spirit of transparency, the full waiver list was made public on December 3^rd  

6.      For the avoidance of doubt: the Federal Ministry of Finance has never denied issuing waivers to African First Ladies Forum conference. This official event for First Ladies of all the other African countries necessitated vehicles for the transport of these visiting dignitaries. The waiver granted for this occasion is similar to other waivers issued to various state governments and government institutions such as Rivers, Lagos, and Akwa Ibom for similar official sporting and conference events.

7.       As always The Federal Ministry of Finance welcomes all legitimate inquiries and criticisms. The Ministry of Finance cannot be expected to remain silent when falsification and distortion of facts occurs.

Paul C Nwabuikwu

Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance.

Sahara Reporters Response below…
By Omoyele Sowore
Dear Minister Of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala : It has come to our attention that your Special Assistant on Media, Paul Nwabuikwu, is circulating a press statement to a select group of news outlets and bloggers describing as false a report by SaharaReporters about import waivers obtained by Mrs. Patience Jonathan’s office to import 200 BMW cars for her “Africa First Ladies” summit in 2012.
While your aide’s statement did not dispute the existence of waivers that were ultimately granted to Coscharis Motors to import the cars, he went to great lengths to accuse SaharaReporters of distorting the information released by your office.
We are not in the least surprised that you would authorize your aide’s misleading press release aimed at casting aspersions on us. This mendacious release is consistent with your style of responding to legitimate questions about your conduct as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance. You have established a reputation for intolerance of principled and accurate media reports once they raise questions about your ministerial judgments or reflect poorly on your performance.
You would recall that, on December 3rd, 2013, you published a doctored list of beneficiaries of import waivers in response to pressures mounted on your office by Nigeria’s PUNCH newspaper. Without question, you had hoped to bamboozle the public with this incomplete list. However, we refused to accept your list for publication, having received information from officials who should know that your list was distorted and incomplete, indeed an attempt to hoodwink gullible reporters and Nigerians. Yesterday, your office surreptitiously released an updated list on the web. It is this fuller list that revealed part of how the First Lady has benefited significantly from the questionable dispensation of import waivers to politically connected individuals and firms. We duly acknowledged our source.
The tone of your aide’s press statement makes it clear that you had hoped that your updated list would not become public knowledge. That explains the harsh and predictable attack on our medium.
Since your statement claimed that Mrs. Jonathan did not benefit from the imported BMWs, we urge you to go a step further: produce the list of beneficiaries and providing the chasses numbers of the BMWs imported under the questionable waivers you granted to Coscharis Motors in 2012. In addition, we challenge you to provide evidence that Coscharis Motors imported the vehicles for which the waivers were granted.
You should also do the Nigerian public the great service of explaining why presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, claimed that the Federal Government had not contributed a dime to the importation of the BMWs, when your office had indeed granted waivers worth N560 million to the controversial auto dealer.
Since you claimed that your latest release was driven by your desire to ensure transparency, we await a detailed response to the issues raised here.
Sincerely,
Omoyele Sowore
For Saharareporters.com

SSS Parades Airforce Official, Six Other Alleged Kidnappers of Sokoto Billionaire

The Department of State Security Service (SSS) paraded an Air force Lance Corporal, Suleiman Mohammed, and six others for alleged kidnap of one Abu Dankure. The suspects were paraded at the SSS headquarters in Abuja on December 24, 2013, Tuesday.

The others paraded were 31-year-old Mustapha Isah, a.k.a. Chief Coordinator; Mohamed Abubakar, Faruku Waziri, Mohammed Bukar, Usman Idah, and Abdullahi Musa.
SSS reminded that victim, a Sokoto-based businessman, Abu Dankure, was kidnapped at his construction site in Kofar Kwari, Sokoto on November 6. He was released on November 11 after a $290,000 (N45m) ransom was paid to his abductors. However, he died 11 days later.
Mr. Isah, who said he got N2.2 million from the ransom, said he left Sokoto two days after the kidnap of Mr. Dankure to negotiate with the family of the victim. He said he rented a three-bedroom apartment at Mabera, Sokoto, where they plotted and detained Mr. Dankure.
He said that on November 11, when he received the ransom at Kwali area of the Federal Capital Territory, he ordered Mr. Bukar, the chief custodian of the victim, to release him.
He also denied torturing or feeding Mr. Dankure with any kind of food that could have led to his death.
The Air force official, Mr. Mohammed, denied having links with the kidnappers. He told journalists that he met Mr. Musa, a friend to his cousin, when he sold a Samsung galaxy Note 2 to him.
He also said he travelled to Kaduna twice to collect money for the phone: N45,000 and N20,000 respectively.
While he denied supplying guns to the others, he said Mr. Musa only asked him if he had an idea on how he could acquire guns, to which he replied that he does not deal in guns but could ask his uncle in Jos, Yakubu Mohammed, who deals in guns.
He said he also told Mr. Musa that two AK47 riffles would cost him N500,000.
“I am not working with any of them, I don’t supply riffle to them. Abdullahi asked me if I can get riffle to them, I told him I don’t sell but can ask my uncle in Jos,” Mr. Mohammed said.
A 45-year-old Mr. Musa is an indigene of Mallam-Madori Local Government Area of Jigawa State and was convicted of car theft in 2008. He served a six-year jail term in Kuje prison.
The kidnap kingpin also confessed to being a member of a car-snatching syndicate operating in Rivers, Edo, Kogi, Abuja, among others states.
While other members of the gang denied knowing or having contact with Mr. Mohammed, Mr. Musa insisted that the soldier promised to procure two pistols at N500,000 for his friend Ali.
Doyin Adetuberu, who represented the SSS spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, said the gang will be charged to court soon.

Peter Okoye poses with scantily-clad ladies in sexy christmas outfits

 Remember he’s a married man now..Well it’s showbiz and his wife isn’t complaining

A Bowl Of Rice Registered As A Voter In Anambra

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presented a bowl of rice as one the registered voters during the recently concluded gubernatorial election in Anambra State.  The bowl of rice pictured in INEC's voter's roll was registered as a 37 year old male voter in Umuerodili township in Anambra State.