Beverly Osu's send New Year Message to Fans and Haters

Beverly Osu, one of Nigeria’s representative at the last Big brother, she took to her instagram yesterday to send a new year message to everyone ; here is what she said;

Dear Friends of Beverly Osu:

As I look back and reflect on 2013, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you, our loyal fans, for your support of Beverly Osu during the past year. Whether it was through financial means, words of encouragement, volunteerism, critics or prayer.

This past year I’ve gotten the platform to use emerging media to entertain, inform and inspire the people of Africa. My vision still holds true today.

I am a young lady ahead of time.

Thanks to everyone who has touched my incredible life.

To my lovers: I will never disappoint. You’ve encouraged me and made me strong to keep moving #kisses.

To my Haters: thanks for making my life in 2013 something to reflect on ..(silence is golden but a duct tape is silver) …

You guys have been my entertainment

TOOLZ Advise To Ladies - Don't Depend on Guys

 Sixty percent of ladies depend on their lovers for financial needs, some even say it is there right, while some base it on a give and take affair; not many Guys like women bugging them with financial needs, but many women do not know this fact.

Popular Curvy and Pretty OAP Toolz took to her twitter handle to advice ladies on this issues and I hope ladies would read and digest this

Woman dies in Niger governor’s office

Havoc struck today when a 46 year old woman, identified as Hajiya Belkisu Mahmoud suddenly slumped and died in the office of the Niger state governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu.
It was gathered that the woman a mother of three had waited several hours to see the governor but was denied access to see the governor who was said to have a lot of files to treat due to the New Year break but shortly after she was ushered into the governor’s office that she slump.
Source in the governor’s office who spoke in confidence said the woman who was suspected to be asthmatic was immediately rushed to the Minna General Hospital where Doctor confirmed her dead.
Our source said that the woman who was on a private visit  was delayed in the waiting hall because her name was not on the approved protocol list of those to see the governor, but being a former staff officer (SO) in the Deputy Governor’s office.
There is no official statement from the government as at the time of filing this report but the governor was said to have hurriedly left office after the incident.
Doctors at the Minna General Hospital also refused to comment on the incident as they all kept sealed lips and avoided efforts to get them to comment.

Patience Jonathan’s billion naira hotel under construction in Yenagoa

The video below:







This is the billion naira hotel under construction in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state allegedly owned by the First Lady of Nigeria, Mama Peace. I got the stills from a video shot by Kayode Ogundamisi for Sahara TV. You will find more photos after the cut…
Also see photos of the massive family compound of the Jonathans which is under full military guard in Otueke in Bayelsa State after the cut…

Jonathan, Diezani cronies To “Buy” Port Harcourt Refineries

Report according to Sahara Reporters has discovered that the shady plan to sell off Nigeria’s four refineries to cronies of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has reached an advanced stage, with cronies of President Goodluck Jonathan and Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke in line to snatch some of the best assets.
Our highly reliable sources revealed that Jide Omokore, a prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been penciled down to “buy” one of two refineries in Port Harcourt in what a highly reliable source described as “a rushed privatization process.” Our sources, who are in the Presidency and oil sector respectively, also disclosed that the second refinery in Port Harcourt will be sold to Benny Peters, the owner of Aiteo Energy. Mr. Peters is one of the major beneficiaries from Nigeria’s notoriously fraudulent fuel subsidy payments. A well known crony of Ms. Alison-Madueke, he is also quite close to President Jonathan.
The sources told SaharaReporters that the Warri refinery will be handed over to Igho Salome’s Televaras while the Kaduna refinery will go to Sahara Energy, an oil firm whose owners are also cronies of the Petroleum Minister.
Industry experts have questioned the Federal Government’s rush to sell the refineries when the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has not been passed by the National Assembly. The omnibus bill covers virtually every aspect of the oil industry and is currently being considered by the federal lawmakers. Various interest groups have protested and questioned several aspects of the proposed law.
“By rushing to make a pronouncement on the sale of the refineries, it does not need a genius to know that Alison-Madueke is up to something,” a source at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) told SaharaReporters. He added: “If you go to the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) today, honest officials will tell you that they are under pressure to proceed with the sale. The agenda is very clear.”
An official at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources said the major worry in the ministry was that most of those positioned toemerge as “preferred bidders” do not have any history in themanagement of refineries.
“Even though Madam (Diezani) may not listen to anybody, we believe that she should allow other players to come into the sector. All these favored guys are getting the juiciest assets in the country. The feeling we have here is that they are just fronting for her. She is basically going to sell these assets to herself. It makes sense to throw the process very open and allow new players to come in,” said the official, who added, “I am already a marked man because of the critical questions I have raised on these things.”
Last month, SaharaReporters had first exposed the scheme to hand over the national assets to friends and associates of the president and minister by any means necessary. Our sources revealed that Ms. Alison-Madueke had rigged the process to enable her cronies to emerge as the preferred bidders.
A BPE official confirmed to SaharaReporters that some of its officials were worried by the sudden haste in the privatization process, adding that the bureau was already feeling teleguided on the proposed sale.
“Under normal circumstances, and I am talking about the international standards we have adopted in this agency, the privatization would not have ended by the 2015 general election. That is if we want to do things normally. But we are being asked to sell as quickly as possible and this is certainly fishy,” the official said.
The official said, however, that he was not in support of the view that the sale of refineries should wait until the PIB is passed. He warned that “politics has already consumed the PIB and nobody knows for sure when it will be passed.”
Mr. Omokore, one of the “preferred” buyers, is a multi-billionaire PDP member who has received several lucrative deals since Ms. Alison-Madueke was made Minister of Petroleum Resources by President Jonathan in 2010. Mr. Omokore is the chairman of Energy Resources Group, whose subsidiary, Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, was involved in a highly controversial operatorship take-over of theNNPC’s oil mining licenses (OMLs) in 2011.
The other two “preferred” buyers are Televaras, owned Mr. Igho Salome, and Sahara Energy, owned by Tonye Vole, Tope Osinubi and Ade Odunsi. Little is known about Mr. Benny Peters, but his company, Aiteo, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of fuel subsidy payments from Mr. Jonathan’s government.
Televaras has been under the spotlight because of its sudden rise to prominence. It recently secured the Afam Power Plant in a privatization deal, despite not having any previous experience in the power sector. A BPE source said the company was arbitrarily announced as the “winner.” The Afam Power Plc was among the 18 PHCN successor companies which were put up for sale. None of the bids received for Afam Power Plc was deemed qualified, but Televaras was curiously announced as the winning bidder.
Sahara Energy was also indicted in a report by a Swiss non-governmental organization, the Berne Declaration. The report revealed how Nigerian oil marketing companies perpetrated widespread subsidy fraud running into several billions of dollars. Titled “Swiss Traders’ Opaque Deals in Nigeria,” the Berne Declaration also accused the NNPC of colluding with international oil traders to defraud Nigeria. The Swiss report revealed that Sahara Energy, Rahamaniyya Group, Aiteo Energy Resources Limited, Ontario Oil and Gas Limited, Tridax Energy, Mezcor Limited and MRS Group had established subsidiaries, also called “letter-box” companies, in Geneva, Switzerland, with no real business activities.
The Swiss document noted that the Nigerian oil firms established the so-called subsidiaries primarily for tax advantages and also for easy access to international capital. But four of the companies, namely Sahara Energy, Rahamaniyya, Aiteo Energy and MRS, were investigated by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee and cleared in a widely discredited report that culminated in the infamous $300,000 bribery scandal involving Farouk Lawan, the chairman of the House probe committee, and billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola.
According to the Swiss report, the opaque partnership between the NNPC and some Swiss oil traders ensured that the profit generated in transactions escaped state coffers. Describing the scam as “not trivial,” the report added: “By way of example, in 2011 the amount withheld from state coffers came to $8.739 billion. The public coffers were directly penalized. The same year, the revenues from oil fell by 39 per cent against the amount budgeted. And this is despite a rise in the price of oil.”
Two weeks ago, a letter Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi of the Central Bank of Nigeria addressed to President Jonathan was leaked to the media.
The letter alleged that the NNPC had failed to remit nearly $50 billion in crude oil earnings at the country’s bank. After a series of meetings between CBN officials as well as officials of the Finance and Petroleum Ministries, Mr. Sanusi disclosed a week ago that the amount of oil export earnings the NNPC had not accounted for now stood at $12 billion. Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala disputed his figure, asserting that the discrepancy stood at $10.8 billion. There has been no further information about the whereabouts of the missing funds.

Cossy Orjiakor’s first time in native attire

 

PDP Crisis:Tambuwal sets to join APC

Another bomb is set to explode in People Democratic Party as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal is set to formally decamp to the rival All Progressives Congress, APC, in January.
Tambuwal decision came as a shock to the leadership of the PDP, who earlier in December had extracted commitment from the House leaders that member’s defection will no longer be tenable.
But National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur denied that he was filing a legal action to prevent the National Executive Council, NEC, of the party from removing him.
According to report, Sokoto State chapter of the APC has mandated its Tambuwal Local Government chapter to formally present a membership card to the Speaker who has been asked by the state Governor, Aliyu Wamakko to formally declare his stand.
Tambuwal has been seen as a beautiful bride by both APC and PDP, and has attended meetings with both parties.
It was gathered, however, that Tambuwal would retain his seat as Speaker due to the numerical strength of the opposition party if he decides to decamp.
It will be recalled that the defection of some members of the House of Representatives elected on the platform of the ruling party into APC has brought the number of the federal lawmakers of the opposition party to 172. The PDP presently has 171.
The likely defection of Tambuwal will further alter the equation in favour of APC in the House, with its membership increasing to 173, with PDP coming down to 170.
It was being speculated that other members of the House were also planning to join Tambuwal to pitch tent with APC.
Tambuwal was elected on the platform of the ruling party from Sokoto State.
Already, his colleagues from the state have followed the path of Governor Wammako to decamp.
One of the principal officers of the House, who confided that Tambuwal had perfected the plans to move into the opposition party.
“The Speaker of the House (Tambuwal) is moving into APC and that movement is sure. The speaker is to formally declare for the opposition party as soon as the House reconvenes from recess.
“But Mr. Speaker is going to retain his seat as he is set to tap the numerical strength of APC in the House to retain his seat. The defection of Mr. Speaker is going to alter the political equation in the House substantially because many other members of the House are likely to join him to move to APC.
“The speaker has made up his minds and he has perfected the strategies with the leaders of APC and he is not likely to go into APC alone as some of his colleagues in the House have also decided to follow him into the opposition party.
“The transition of Mr. Speaker is going to be smooth and his seat is not going to be threatened in any way. The movement of the speaker is going to deal a death blow on the ruling party. Just let us wait for the outcome of the suit challenging the defection of some House members into APC by the leadership of PDP.
“There is going to be exodus of members, including members of the National Assembly, out of PDP, if the court judgement allows defection,” added the federal lawmaker, who craved anonymity,” the source said.
Reacting to the defection plot, Special Adviser on Media to the Speaker, Imam Imam said that those reports remain rumours and as a matter of rules, they have refused to react to speculation.
He said: “The Speaker is in PDP, he remains a PDP member and there is nothing to suggest that he is moving to another party.
“All of those reports remain speculation and like you know as a matter of policy, we do not react to specualtions. The Speaker has not defected.”
In a related development, Tukur, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Prince Oliver Okpara, denied insinuation that he plans to sue the party’s NEC.
The national chairman disassociated himself from such move, describing it as unthinkable and unimaginable.
He wondered how he could initiate such an action against a body he is part of and an organ of the party that has the highest say and policy making body in the party.
His words: “How can somebody destroy his own house? The intended legal action only exists in the minds of the writers of the false story. I am a member of the PDP NEC and I respect the body and the members.”
Meanwhile, the Presidency has said that unprecedented policy decisions were taken and major projects executed for the good of Nigerians in spite of pockets of distractions during the year 2013.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe stated this in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday.
Okupe noted that contrary to impressions being created by the opposition, Nigeria under President Goodluck Jonathan has moved significantly forward in many sectors than it was in 2011.
The Presidential aide said the transformation, which has taken place in the area of transportation, agriculture, power and other critical sectors are the routes which all developed nations had taken before now but which unfortunately had not been taken by Nigeria before now.
Okupe said: “It is an incontrovertible fact that Nigeria under Jonathan has reduced its food imports by about forty percent and increased its local production of rice, cassava, sorghum, cotton and cocoa in percentages ranging from 25 to 56 in the last two years.
“For the first time since independence, the Nigerian agricultural sector is attracting unprecedented Foreign Direct Investment. Over the past 2 years, the sector has attracted $ 4 billion in private sector executed letters of commitment to invest in agricultural value chains, from food crops, to export crops, fisheries and livestock.
“The number of private sector seed companies grew from 10 to 70 within one year. Over $7billion investments from Nigerian businesses have been made to develop new fertilizer manufacturing plants, which will make Nigeria the largest producer and exporter of fertilizers in Africa.
“It is also noteworthy that agricultural lending as a share of total bank lending has risen from two percent to six percent in two years.”
According to him, the major component of the power sector reform, which is the privatisation of the generation and distribution of the sector, was successfully accomplished in 2013, thus putting Nigeria on a sure path of steady power supply in no distant future.
He explained that with the completion of the privatisation process this year, as well as the completion of 10 National Integrated Power Projects, NIPP, Nigeria for the first time, has moved away from vertically integrated state owned and poorly managed electricity industry to a modern private sector-led fully regulated market with the right incentives capable of attracting new investments to kick start the re-industrialisation of the country.
Other major achievements of the Jonathan administration in the outgoing year, according to the Presidency, include the recovery of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which was made possible by a combination of sound fiscal and monetary policies as well as a transparent conduct of state affairs in a manner which has rekindled investors’ confidence in the Nigerian market.
Okupe said those who always seek to use the security challenges in some parts the country as the only barometer to measure the present administration are not being fair to the President, considering the fact that the war on insurgency and terrorism has never been a quick fix anywhere in the world.
While reminding the public that bombings and killings by insurgents happened in Kano, Kogi, Niger, Yobe, Borno, Sokoto,A damawa and the Federal Capital Territory in 2011 and 2012, the Presidential aide noted that terrorism has been largely contained and restricted to one or two states in 2013.
“Yes, we are not where we hope to be but it will be sheer mischief to insist that we are where we were or as some wickedly say we are worse than we were. Definitely, their position is not based on facts and so should be ignored by Nigerians” Okupe stated
While reiterating the determination of President Jonathan to remain steadfast in his pursuit of accelerated economic growth and stability, peace and development of all parts of Nigeria, Okupe said the Federal Government will consolidate on the growth recorded in the outgoing year by completing all ongoing projects as well as initiating new programmes and projects, especially in sectors that will create jobs and empower Nigerian youths