American journalist suggests Atiku paid $540,000 to get into US

Judd Legum, a journalist and former research director of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, says Atiku Abubakar paid as much as $540,000 to get his way into the US.

In his article titled “What does a $1.1 million lobbying contract buy in Trump’s Washington?” Legum said the Peoples Democratic Party’s deal with Brian Ballard, a top lobbyist with deep connections to the Trump administration, was instrumental to Atiku’s trip.

Atiku’s spokesman, Paul Ibe, did not pick calls or reply messages sent to his phone to comment on the report.

.In November 2018, TheCable had exclusively reported that Atiku’s party, the PDP, signed a deal with Ballard to enhance US-Nigeria relations, with a focus to “maintaining  political and security conditions free of intimidation and interference”

“It shall be the Firm’s duty to consult with the Client and advocate on its behalf those issues the client deems necessary and appropriate before the US Federal government,” contract papers seen by TheCable read.

“Issues and objectives may include, but not be limited to, enhancement of US Nigerian relations; strengthening and advancing democratic values and the rule of law in Nigeria, with a special focus in the coming months on maintaining political and security conditions free of intimidation and interference in order to ensure the success and fairness of Nigeria’s national election for president in 2019.”

Atiku, the former vice-president of Nigeria, had not visited the US for 12 years and the leading opposition party mocked him for it.

Legum said “a former U.S. government official confirmed to Popular Information that Abubakar was formally barred from obtaining a visa pursuant to a presidential proclamation targeting corrupt foreign officials”.

He said the corruption allegations against Atiku are detailed in a 2010 bipartisan report by the U.S. Senate, “KEEPING FOREIGN CORRUPTION OUT OF THE UNITED STATES: FOUR CASE HISTORIES.”

He said Atiku was also implicated in the investigation of William Jefferson, the former Congressman who is serving a 13-year sentence for corruption, although the PDP candidate has repeatedly denied all allegations of corruption in the report and has never been charged for any criminal offence.

Presidential Proclamation 7750

Before 2018, Atiku had spoken openly about his inability to secure a US visa.

He said in December 2017: “It is the sole prerogative of America to determine who they want in their country or not. I’m not running away from America. I applied, but wasn’t issued a visa.”

Legum added that Atiku’s inability to enter the US may be as a result of the Presidential Proclamation 7750 signed by President George Bush, which bans entry for current and former corrupt foreign officials — especially those whose corruption has a nexus in the country.

“The US government does not publicly disclose why individuals are denied visas. But a former government official who has seen the documentation confirmed to Popular Information that Abubakar, until very recently, was banned from obtaining a US visa under Proclamation 7750,” he wrote.

He said this led Atiku’s team into hiring Ballard, who chaired the Trump Victory Organization in Florida and “lobbied on behalf of the Trump Organization in the state for more than a decade.”

He said the contract required an immediate payment of $270,000 with another $270,000 due in late December 2018.

“A month later, Atiku is in the US — and back in Nigeria for a stronger campaign for the presidency,”  Legum wrote.

“Now Abubakar is back in Nigeria, buoyed by his trip to the United States as his campaign enters its final days. His campaign slogan is Trumpian: ‘Let’s get Nigeria working again.'”

- THECABLE

Transfer News : Victor Moses rejects Chelsea’s agreement with Fernebahce, gives reasons

Chelsea winger, Victor Moses has given reasons he rejected a transfer agreement between his club and Turkish giants, Fernebahce.

Fenerbahce are interested in signing Moses in this January transfer window.

One of Moses’s reasons for turning down a move to Fernebahce was because the 28-year-old does not want to step out of England, Today.ng reports.

The report also claimed that Moses is yet to make up his mind on a decision that will see him choose one of Fulham, Crystal Palace, Cardiff City or Huddersfield Town.
Moses has fallen out of favour at Chelsea since the Blues manager, Maurizio Sarri took over from fellow Italian, Antonio Conte early this season.


The ex-Nigerian international has barely featured for Sarri’s side so far this campaign.

- DAILY POST

Ghana overtakes Nigeria as West Africa’s largest FDI recipient in 2018

Ghana was West Africa’s largest recipient of foreign direct investment in 2018, a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has shown.

The report titled ‘UNCTAD Global Investment Trends Monitor’, which was released on Monday, said Nigeria recorded a 36% decline in FDI in 2018.

Foreign direct investments are investments made by a firm or individual into business interests located in another country. It differs from portfolio investments in that FDIs includes establishing ownership or controlling interest while investors only buy equities in foreign companies in the latter.

“Africa registered a 6% increase in FDI inflows in 2018 (US$40billion, up from a revised US$38 billion in 2017), but the growth was concentrated in few economies and the aimed for the shift from the natural resources dominated FDI profile of the continent towards a more balanced sectoral distribution was only partially visible, in that the relatively diversified economies, such as Egypt and South Africa, saw more stable and increasing FDI inflows,” the report read.

“Egypt with an increase of 7% from $7.4 billion to $7.9 billion, was the biggest recipient of FDI in Africa in 2018 with investments in real estate, food processing, oil and gas exploration and renewable energy.

“In contrast, flows to the two largest oil producers of the continent, Nigeria (-36% to $2.2 billion) and Angola were low, with a decline and a net divestment respectively.

“In West Africa, Ghana ($3.3 billion) overtook Nigeria as the largest recipient of FDI in 2018. However, Nigeria reported a few significant greenfield project announcements in the oil and gas and chemical sectors, which could lead to a recovery in 2019.”

According to the report, the drop in FDI was most felt in developed economies, where inflows fell by 40%.

The dip recorded globally has brought FDI to the low point it reached after the global financial crisis.

- THECABLE

Pastor in court over N3.4m alleged fraud

Justice Joyce Abdulmaleek of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, has admitted an Ibadan- based pastor, Isaac Arabambi, to a N500, 000 bail following his alleged involvement in a N3.4 million fraud.

Mr M.S. Mabub, counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had earlier informed the court that the defendant was facing a four-count charge bordering on pretence and obtaining money under false pretences.

Mabub said that Arabambi committed the offences between July 14, 2016 and July 19, 2016 and also from Feb. 1, 2017 to Feb. 9, 2017, in Ibadan.

According to the prosecutor, the defendant operated a fraudulent company called Eagles Investment Ltd., to defraud one Sunday Lawal to the tune of N3.450million.

Mabub alleged that the defendant lied to the complainant that the money would be invested for him in the company, but he knew that it was fake.

The prosecution added that the offences contravened Section 1 (1)(A) and punishable under Section (2)of the Advanced Free Fraud and Other rRelated Offences Act 2006.

Justice Abdulmaleek, in a ruling, said the defendant must provide one reliable surety who must not be less than Grade Level 12 in the Oyo State Civil Service as part of his bail conditions.

She then adjourned the case until Feb. 20 for hearing.

- DAILY POST

Cristiano Ronaldo jailed 2 years for tax fraud

Portuguese football icon Cristiano Ronaldo has accepted a prearranged €18.8 million fine and a suspended 23-month jail term for tax fraud in Spain on Tuesday.

The charges relate to his time at former club Real Madrid.

Juventus winger Ronaldo arrived at the Madrid court hand in hand with Georgina Rodriguez and dressed in an all-black outfit finished off neatly with white trainers and shades and gave a thumbs up and grin to the assembled reporters outside.

A judge had earlier rejected his request to enter the building via car to avoid paparazzi, meaning a media scrum greeted the 33-year-old, who found time to sign a sneaky autograph on his way up to the steps to court.

Ronaldo arrived Madrid hours after Juventus’ 3-0 Serie A win over Chievo, where he missed a penalty.

He was highly expected to plead guilty to defrauding the Spanish treasury and sign a deal on the sentence and fine.

Due to the non-violent nature of Ronaldo’s crime, and Spanish law dictating that a term of under two years incarceration can be served on probation for first-time offenders,the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner will not spend any time behind bars.

Ronaldo’s court appearance in the Spanish capital lasted just 15 minutes as the player needed simply to sign off paperwork for the previously agreed settlement in court, Reuters reported.

Earlier, Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid team mate Xabi Alonso walked in to face own tax fraud case with his hands deep in his suit pockets. “Yes, all good,” was his only response to reporters’ questions.

Former Manchester United and Sporting Lisbon winger Ronaldo has reportedly already paid a tax office penalty in the sum of €13.5 million, after accepting charges he defrauded the court to the tune of €14.7 million.

-PM NEWS

WhatsApp cuts recipients of forwarded messages to curb fake news

WhatsApp Messenger, popular text messaging service, has reduced messages a user can forward to five recipients, in an effort to reduce the spread of false information.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that WhatsApp Messenger, acclaimed to be the world’s most popular messaging app, is a freeware and cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) service owned by Facebook.

The application allows the sending of text messages and voice calls, as well as video calls, images and other media, documents, and user location.

Previously, users could forward messages to up to 20 recipients, but now the limit will be five.

According to USA TODAY, from Monday, all users on the latest versions of WhatsApp can now forward to only five chats at once.

“Like Facebook, which has been battling misuse on its platform, with 1.5 billion users – is also fighting to wipe out fake information on the social network.

“Despite five sounding like a small number,The Verge points out that messages could still get forwarded to groups, which can have as many as 256 people.

“That means a forwarded message could be put in front of nearly 1,300 people, despite the five time limit.”

It added that WhatsApp carefully evaluated this test and listened to user feedback over six months.

- PM NEWS

N27,000 as New Minimum Wage unacceptable – NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the N27,000 new National Minimum Wage adopted by the National Council of States on Tuesday.

Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, the NLC General Secretary, made this known to NAN on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to him, the council has no jurisdiction determining another amount after a Tripartite Committee has submitted its report.

“It is abysmal of government to be delaying the submission of an Executive Bill to the National Assembly and by wrongfully adopting N27,000 through the council of states,” he said.

Ozo-Eson however said the NLC has called an emergency National Executive Council meeting for Friday to weigh on the deadline given to government within which to submit an executive bill to the National Assembly.

The NLC general scribe added that the Federal Government was only projecting a shutdown of the economy with its latest action.

“This is because workers should not be held responsible for any development after its NEC meeting on Friday,’’ he said.

- PM NEWS

Obasanjo was an election rigger – Tinubu

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was an election rigger without peer and is responsible for most of the flaws in the Nigerian political economy since 1999.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress gave this view in Lagos on Tuesday in a letter entitled: ‘Chief Obasanjo -At War Against his Own Deeds’.

Tinubu wrote the letter in response to Obasanjo’s earlier letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, in which Obasanjo chastised Buhari and his administration, claiming, without any proof, that the president was preparing to rig next month’s poll.

In Tinubu’s view, Obasanjo in levelling the uncorroborated accusation was merely projecting on to the APC the electoral misconduct he would have perpetrated if still in power

Tinubu, also the Co-Chair of the APC Presidential Campaign, said Obasanjo was handed Nigeria on a silver platter in 1999. But he chose to squander the opportunity of leadership.

“This man should have positioned himself to be the father of the nation. All the goodwill that could be granted a political figure was bestowed on him. The global economy was such that it should have fuelled our growth.

”Everyone wanted Nigeria to succeed after emerging from years of noxious military rule. Despite the flawed exercise that rendered him president, we all bit our tongues in hope that he would say and do the right things that would move Nigeria forward.

“Instead of being a unifying figure as Commander-in-chief, he lowered himself to being a divisive, vindictive conniver. There was no table which he neared that he did not upset and overturn, ” he said.

Tinubu said that Obasanjo had the opportunity of placing the economy on the path to durable growth and shared prosperity through diversification, industrialisation and creation of a social safety net for the poor.

”He tried to convert our young democracy into a one party state. His PDP boasted that they would rule for 60 uninterrupted years. Never did they boast that they would govern us well during even one year of the sixty.

”Instead, he handed the economy over to a tight group of cronies, turning what should be a modern economy into a version of the mammoth trading companies that dominated the 17th and 18th century.

“We hoped that Obasanjo would personify statesmanship, thus showing the way to a more benign political culture. Instead, he bickered and feuded with his vice president and mostly anyone who dared remind him that he was human and thus infallible.

“Given the vast margin between the good he could have achieved and the nebulous feats that comprise his true record, Chief Obasanjo is the person most responsible for the flaws in the Nigerian political economy since 1999, ” he said.

Tinubu also described the former president as an election rigger without peer.

According to Tinubu, the ways of Obasanjo are not those of the APC. And this difference has meant the better for Nigeria.

“There is no election which occurred under Obasanjo’s watch or in which he participated that did not involve cheating on his part.

“Even the late President Umaru Musa Yar ‘Adua admitted he was the beneficiary of a flawed election engineered by none other than today’s vociferous complainant.

”Former President Obasanjo is many things to many people; but he is all things unto himself.

”This election will be a free and open exercise of the people’s right to choose their leaders. Obasanjo makes fiery allegations against this right but offers no corroborating evidence; he presents only reams of words.

”This is because Obasanjo is projecting onto the APC the misconduct he would have wrought if still in power. Yet, the ways of Obasanjo are not those of the APC. And this difference has meant the better for Nigeria,’ he said.

- PM NEWS

37- year-old woman stabs son to death for using father’s name on birth certificate

A Mpumalanga woman in South Africa stabbed her son to death for using his father’s surname on his birth certificate.

The 37-year-old will appear in the Mkhuhlu Magistrates Court near Bushbuckridge.

She was busted on Friday in Malubane Trust outside Mkhuhlu.

According to iharare.com, on that specific day she apparently had an argument with her 17-year-old son for using his father’s surname when applying for his ID.

She accused him of being proud of his father, who hadn’t contributed to his upbringing in any way.

The teen was buried this weekend in Calcutta Trust.

Sergeant Zanele Sibuyi said they were investigating a case of murder.

She said on Tuesday morning, a resident found the teen’s body on the street.

“The suspect fled and later told her family she would see them at the funeral.” but she was later apprehended.

- PM NEWS

Buhari, Atiku, others should scrap security votes, immunity – SERAP

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to major presidential candidates for Nigeria’s February 16 election to commit themselves to the scrapping of immunity and security votes of the governors and president.

SERAP urged them to “publicly commit to revolutionary and innovative anti-corruption reforms in five key areas, such as security votes, power sector corruption, judicial corruption and removal of immunity for presidents, vice-presidents, state governors and deputy state governors.”

President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives’ Party and Atiku Abubakar of the People Democratic Party, who were absent in the presidential debate last night, are among the candidates that SERAP said it has sent letters. Others include: the candidates of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, Oby Ezekwesili; Alliance for New Nigeria, Fela Durotoye; Young Progressives Party candidate, Kingsley Moghalu; KOWA Party, Sina Fagbenro-Byron; African Democratic Congress, Obadaiah Mailafia; and African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore.

In a statement today signed by SERAP senior legal adviser Bamisope Adeyanju, the organisation said: “Consistent with their right to participate in their own government, Nigerian voters deserve a substantive debate during the campaign about issues that affect them, particularly with respect to combating corruption. Now is the time to make commitment for specific reforms that will strengthen Nigeria’s anti-corruption record and standing in global ranking. Set forth below are 5 main anti-corruption priorities that candidates should address. Please let us know which positions you will support.”

The letters dated 19 January, 2019 read in part: “Candidates should commit to scrapping security votes spending by presidents and state governors by repealing the constitution to include specific prohibition of security votes. They should also commit to a comprehensive audit of spending on security votes by presidents and governors since the return of democracy in 1999 and directing their Attorney General and Minister of Justice to take legal action in the public interest to hold governments to account on spending on security votes.”

“Candidates should commit to repealing the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 to address regulatory lapses which have continued to lead to systemic corruption and impunity of perpetrators, forcing ordinary Nigerians to pay the price for corruption in the electricity sector -staying in darkness, but still made to pay crazy electricity bills.”

“Candidates should commit to reopening all reports of corruption in the electricity sector and ensuring effective prosecution of corruption allegations, including corruption charges against Dr. Ransom Owan-led board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission; allegations of looting of the benefits of families of the deceased employees of Power Holding Company of Nigeria; and the budgeted N16 billion between 2003 and 2007, which went down the drains as it failed to generate the needed amount of electricity.”

“Candidates should commit to establishing independent counsel and/or special anticorruption courts in the six-geopolitical zones of the country for the effective and speedy prosecution of all former state governors indicted for corruption. They should also commit, within the first 365 days in office, to begin the constitutional reform process of removing the immunity clause in section 308 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) to promote effective leadership and improve institutions of governance.”

“Candidates should commit to working with the judiciary to improve the independence of the National Judicial Council, including by reviewing requirements for its leadership to allow retired judges of proven integrity to lead the council. They should also commit to working with and encouraging the Chief Justice of Nigeria and NJC to ensure that the Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other judges make periodic asset declarations and public disclosures of such declarations.”

“Candidates should commit, within the first 365 days in office, to begin the constitutional reform process of inserting specific requirements in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) to make asset declaration details by presidents and state governors public, including by widely publishing the details online and on other accessible platforms.”

“Candidates should also commit to directing their Attorney General and Minister of Justice to refer cases of apparent disparity between the asset declarations of presidents and state governors before assuming offices and their alleged illicit wealth and enrichment after leaving to the Code of Code Bureau for joint investigation and prosecution with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).”

“Prior to the elections, SERAP will issue a short report on the anti-corruption commitments that candidates and political parties have made. SERAP will then issue an anticorruption assessment report in March 2019, to set clear anti-corruption agenda for the next president and administration, which would assume office May 29, 2019.”

“We hope that candidates will adopt these commitments as part of their own political platform and ensure that the important recommendations are diligently implemented if they are elected.”

“If you or your political party would like to commit to some or all of the recommendations stated below, please let us know by February 1, 2019 so that we can include you in our upcoming report. Please feel free to contact at: info@serap-nigeria.org.”

-PM NEWS