PUTTING THE LOUDMOUTH IN HIS PLACE : Defamation: Osinbajo Threatens N2bn Suit Against Fani-Kayode ... LedershipNews

Vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof Yemi Osinbajo, (SAN), has threatened to institute a legal action against the director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) Mr Femi Fani-Kayode for alleging that he swore an oath with former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu.

Accordingly, Osinbajo has given the former minister of Aviation seven days ultimatum to pay N2billion to him as damages and other reliefs for the alleged defamatory statement made against him by Fani-Kayode.

In a pre-litigation letter written by his lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), to this effect, Osinbajo also demanded an unreserved apology and a retraction from Fani-Kayode within seven days, threatening to go to court should the PDP campaign spokesman fails to comply.

Fani-Kayode had during a recent press conference in Abuja, alleged that Osinbajo had a secret oath with Bola Tinubu to be his surrogate as vice president for a period of six months after which he, (Osinbajo) would resign.

He also alleged that the secret oath was to give way for Tinubu to eventually become vice president to Gen Muhammadu Buhari in the event that the APC wins the   election.

But in a pre-litigation letter, by his lawyer, Femi Falana, Osinbajo demanded a retraction of the defamatory statement which was published in national print and electronic media.

Falana, who submitted that the statement credited to Fani-Kayode portrayed Osinbanjo as someone who is complicit in a fraud against the Nigerian people, said the statement was a vicious, wicked and reckless ploy to impugn the reputation of Osinbajo and lower him in the estimation of right thinking members of the public.

The senior advocate said, “We therefore demand immediate retraction of the offensive and derogatory publication.”

and apology on four TV channels.

and four national newspapers circulating in all parts of Nigeria (including everyone by, or in which the statement was published, carried or covered) and damages in the sum of N2 billion.

“Be advised that if we do not receive your formal retraction and apology and damages as demanded within seven days of receipt hereof, we shall proceed with our client’s instructions to seek legal remedies for your publication and dissemination of defamatory statements”.

…Fani-Kayode Seeks N5bn Damages From Lai Mohammed

The director of media and publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, has demanded N5billion damages from the national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for defamation of his character.

Fani-Kayode further demanded an apology from Mohammed within seven days of the receipt of a letter from his lawyers.

This was contained in a letter written and signed by Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Whyte Prekunomaa of Ahmed Raji and co, which was addressed to Mohammed.

According to the letter dated March 3 and made available to journalists, Fani-Kayode referred to a publication in a national daily (not LEADERSHIP) on Tuesday, March 3 which quoted the APC spokesman making innuendos to Fani-Kayode’s mental state of health.

The letter reads in part “Our client denies in it entirety the content of the above publication and innuendos therein and further states that every allegation against him in the said publication is false and defamatory of his person and character.

“Consequently, we demand that you withdraw the said statement and render and apology to our client within seven (7) days of the receipt of this letter. You are also to enter into negotiation for damages as we have firm instructions to claim N5billion damages against you. “

“Take notice therefore, that it will amount to a specious gamble on your part, if you treat this letter with levity.”

JISOS! JISOS!! JISOS!!! COULD THIS BE TRUE? : Patience Jonathan Used 11 Bayelsa Women Killed In Accident For Election Victory Ritual – Family ... NewsRescue

Patience Jonathan Used 11 Bayelsa PDP Women Killed In Car Accident As Sacrifice For President Jonathan, GEJ’s Election Victory Ritual” – Critics

They went to collect their own share of the national cake not knowing that that would be the end of their existence on earth.

Eleven PDP women leaders who went on a courtesy visit to First Lady Patience Jonathan died in a fatal crash along East West road in Rivers State last week.

NAN confirmed today that the Bayelsa Government has concluded plans to give them a befitting mass burial because 9 of them were burnt beyond recognition.

Their burial ceremonies will hold tomorrow in accordance with the Ijaw tradition.

After the tragic crash, tongues have been wagging that the First Lady allegedly used the women for election victory ritual for her husband.

A source said the family members of 3 of the women have challenged Patience Jonathan to come out clean because she was the one who invited them to the impromptu secret meeting.

May their souls rest in peace.

BEFORE NKO? HOME IS BEST NA : I’ll return to Otuoke if I lose –Jonathan ... PunchNews

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he will return to his Otuoke home in Bayelsa State, if by default, he loses the March 28 presidential election.

Jonathan, who said Nigeria is not his father’s estate, was however optimistic that he “will not lose the election.”

“If by default somebody wins the election, of course, I will go back to my village. The country is not my father’s estate,” he told the Quatar-based international television station, AlJazeera, on Monday night.

The President denied that he was scared of the All Progressives Congress and its Presidential candidate, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, adding that he would win because he had performed well.

When asked what he made of the insinuations in some quarters that the sudden step-up of military operations in the fight against Boko Haram was because he was scared he might lose the election on the grounds of insecurity, he replied , “It is out of ignorance.

“In a political environment, if one party, particularly the ruling party, is going to the left, the opposition would have to go to the right. They must find something. They must have something to tell the people.”

The President, however, explained that Boko Haram   insurgents were able to wreak havoc on parts of the country for long because the military   lacked certain weapons to confront them.

The President noted that with the procurement of modern weapons, the security agencies would rout the terror group soon.

He also denied that he mishandled the threat posed by the sect to the country and that the activities of the group did not start with his administration.

Jonathan, who reassured Nigerians that the rescheduled elections would not be postponed, said the security agencies had not promised to rout out Boko Haram completely before the   elections.

The President however explained that the military would degrade the insurgents to the level that they would no longer have the strength to disrupt the polls.

He said,“That is the key thing. In terms of taking over our territories by the sect,we will retake them and very soon, there will be no part of Nigeria where the insurgents will erect a flag and say this is a Boko Haram territory.

“That we will do but what I am saying is that even if you do that, that does not mean you are isolated from terror attack, but gradually with improvement in terms of technology and monitoring we will able to bring it down.

“When we take over all the territories they are holding, they are becoming weaker, now we will improve our monitoring using superior technologies to monitor their activities. We will begin to pick them and then of course, frustrate their activities. So over the period, it will go. We cannot live with terror. No, we can’t. We will stop it.”

He also dismissed the allegation by some APC senators that he was planning to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission,   Attahiru Jega.

He told his interviewer that he had not even discussed   Jega’s purported removal with anyone.

Jonathan said, “Except somebody is insinuating that the chairman has done something wrong. You cannot change an officer, except the person has done something wrong. Government, whether at the federal or state level, president or governor, does not wake up and change somebody, especially somebody like the INEC chairman; except that person has done something wrong.

“INEC is a very sensitive body. For me to change the INEC chairman, Nigerians and non-Nigerians will ask questions. So, you cannot wake up and change the INEC Chairman.”

Jonathan also dismissed insinuations that corruption had worsened in the country under his Presidency.

The President specifically made reference to an allegation by a former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Sanusi Lamido (the current Emir of Kano) that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation failed to remit N49.8bn to the national treasury between 2011 and 2012.

He accused him of blowing the issue of corruption out of proportion.

Jonathan said, “Even the corruption issues –even if you look at the Corruption Perception Index…yes, people talk about corruption now because it has become almost a political issue. And when you move something to the level of politics, of course normally the issue is blown out of proportion.

“Yes, we have cases of corruption but it’s not as bad as people make it to be. Yes, we have cases of stealing; I always say it that, call a thief a thief. I am not staying that Nigeria doesn’t have an element of corruption or stealing.

“Start from ex-CBN governor who said $48.9bn was missing. What is the budget of this country for God’s sake? Our budget has been about N3.something trillion. That’s roughly about $18 to $20bn a year.

“And someone is saying we lose N48.9bn. If we lost that huge amount both federal and state governments would not be able to pay salaries. I don’t know how he came about that figure. The next thing was for him to reduce the figure. Up to this time I don’t know which is the correct accusation.”

OBASANJO ON FULL STEAM : Buhari is Nigeria’s next president, says Obasanjo ... PMNews

Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has predicted that Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari will be elected on 28 March as Nigeria’s new president, to succeed incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan.

At the same time, he dismissed fears of any election annulment as it happened in 1993, under the Babangida administration, when the election of Moshood Kashimawo Abiola was annulled by the military junta.

Obasanjo spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun state today, when he met a group that styles itself, Concerned Citizens of Nigeria.

According to the former Nigerian leader, there will never be a repeat of what happened in the country in 1993 after the Presidential election.

Obasanjo declared that he has confidence in the All Progressives Congress,APC Presidential candidate, General Muhammed Buhari because he was a trained military officer.

General Muhammadu Buhari gets Obasanjo’s backing

The group called on the former President to intervene in the country’s looming political crisis before matters degenerate.

“We have come to express our deep concern over series of dangerous political miscalculations currently going on under Jonathan administration.

“We are afraid that crisis is seriously looming and it is like another June 12 crisis is on the way and it may be very tragic for the country. We want you to as a matter of urgency intervene into the matter before it is too late sir,” the group opined.

In his response,the former President allayed their anxieties, saying that the 2015 election will never be like the June 1993 election.

“You need not to worry about anything. There can never be any June 12 annulment again. Buhari is not Abiola, he is a trained and highly intelligent soldier.

“Oyegun is not Anenih, Osinbajo is not Kingibe. Jega is not Nwosu, Jonathan is not IBB and this time around, Obasanjo will not support any interim government.

“Obasanjo will rather support a free, fair and credible election.”

THE MAKING OF DARE-DEVILS : FCT Minister’s nephew kidnaps brother, demands N10m ... PunchNews

The Police in Bauchi State have arrested one Salisu Salmanu, who claimed to be a nephew of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed, for kidnapping.

The police said Salmanu connived with his friends to kidnap his three-year-old younger brother at Kofar Idi in Bauchi and demanded a ransom of N10m from his father.

Salmanu, 19, was arrested with three of his friends, namely; Imrana Abdullahi, 17, Abdullahi Mohammed, 19, and Umar Musa, 19, all residents of the Kofar Idi area of the Bauchi metropolis.

The spokesman for the Bauchi State Police Command, DSP Haruna Mohammed, said the police detectives attached to Township division on February 28, 2015, at about 12pm, arrested the four suspects, who connived with four others still at large to commit the crime.

He said, “The suspects conspired with four others, now at large, to kidnap one Abdulkadir Salmanu, male and three years old of Kofar Idi, took him to Gwallameji and demanded 10m ransom from the parents.

“The victim was liberated by the police and efforts are ongoing to apprehend the other fleeing suspects after which they will be charged to court.”

Salmanu told PUNCH Metro that they intended buying a car with the money and also spend the remaining money the way they deemed fit had they succeeded in getting the N10m.

It was gathered that the suspect’s father, Salmanu Mohammed, is the elder brother to the FCT Minister.

Salmanu said, “When we planned the kidnap, we agreed that if we succeeded in getting the N10m, we should buy a car.

We also agreed that the rest of the money should be left for spending as individual deemed fit.”

“Honestly, my father meets all my needs. He pays my school fees and every other thing I need.

“It is just greed and selfishness which the devil put in our hearts.”

Salmanu said he was a student of a federal polytechnic, adding that he had missed tests and lectures because he was in police custody.

He added that he would love to go back to school, finish his studies and put the incident behind him as what could be called mistakes of the youth.

The 19-year-old mastermind said he prayed that God would expose others who were into such “dirty act”.

He said, “By God’s grace, our hearts have totally changed since this is our first time of doing this, and we pray that God prevent a future recurrence.”

Another suspect, Mohammed, said they had no intention of harming the boy.

“We took the child, not with the intention of harming him, but so we could get money from his father and release him.

“We demanded N10m, but the father said he would pay N3m and we insisted it was too small. We finally agreed that he should pay N5m.

“Honestly, if we had succeeded, we would not have returned the money, but this would have been our first and last operation,” he said.

WHEN THE FALCON NEEDS TO HEAR THE FALCONER : Removing Jega’ll lead to violence, Reps warn FG ... PunchNews

The House of Representatives on Tuesday warned the Federal Government against tampering with the existing “arrangements” for the March 28 elections, particularly the removal of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

The House noted that changing the election plans either by further extending the dates or removing Jega would only lead to a magnitude of violence, worse than what was witnessed   after the 2011 polls.

In a resolution in Abuja, the House drew the attention of the political class, the Federal Government, state governments and security agencies to warnings of unavoidable violence already issued by eminent Nigerians and groups, both on the international and local scenes.

The resolution was taken following a motion moved by the Chairman, House Committee on Justice,   Ali Ahmad.

The development came as the Speaker,   Aminu Tambuwal, at a separate session, raised the alarm that the dark days of military coups might return if the country continued to progress in error.

During Tuesday’s plenary, lawmakers also warned that “persons” whose actions would have led to such violence must be held accountable at all judicial levels.

Part of their resolution read, “Hold personally accountable at domestic judicial forum or at the International Court of Justice, any persons or organisations that foist on INEC any decision or action whatsoever, including unconstitutional attempt to remove the current INEC chairman, that has the effect of making it impracticable for elections to hold on 28th March and 11th April, 2015.”

Besides, members made it clear that removing the INEC chairman would be unconstitutional except if it secured the approval of two-thirds of the Senate, as prescribed in Section. 157(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

“Such removal can only be achieved when two things happen, viz, (a) his inability to discharge the functions of the office, or (b) for misconduct, as determined by two-thirds of the Senate,” the resolution added.

The Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the House made spirited attempts to stop the motion but failed.

The House Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, had raised an objection on the grounds that the motion was “speculative” as there was no evidence suggesting that Jega was about to be removed.

“Nobody is interested in removing Jega; so, we can’t entertain such a speculative motion,” Ogor protested.

But, he was overruled by Tambuwal and the motion was passed in a majority voice vote.

The Speaker also did not allow members to debate the motion, a move that earned him murmurs from some PDP lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Tambuwal, while speaking at a meeting with a coalition of civil society groups, Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, observed that the “signs” of a possible return to dark days in Nigeria were everywhere for all to see.

He stated that apart from alleged plans to use Civil Service rules to force Jega out of office, the suggestion of an interim government by some groups was “treasonable.”

The speaker said, “Any form of government outside our constitution is a coup. Why are the security agencies not charging such persons with treasonable felony?

“Some individuals are bent on ensuring that the elections do not hold or in the alternative, create scenarios that will make the conduct of the polls impossible for INEC.

The speaker, who said “power belongs to God” and Him alone decides whom to give, advised the political class against attempting to oppose God and the will of the people.

He spoke further, “Some individuals are not interested in a free and fair process of elections.

“You should remember that people voted you into power; if the same people are saying go and rest through a free and fair process, then respect their decision.

“Some persons occupied these offices before we came in. What would have happened if they refused to vacate the offices for us?

“Not up to 10 per cent of Nigerians are politicians; what happens to the remaining 90 per cent ? In any case, there has to be a country to govern.

“Are we as a nation ordinarily supposed to be where they are today?”

The CSO representatives , who were led by   Clement Nwankwo, had earlier raised fears over what they considered to be troubling signs of a possible interference with the democratic process in the country.

They said that a similar meeting would be held with the President of the Senate, David Mark, and a final round with President Goodluck Jonathan to harp on the dangers of frustrating the democratic processes.

LOOK WHO'S TALKING AND HEAR WHAT SHE'S SAYING : Buhari Has A Dead Brain – Patience Jonathan ... ZoomNaija

The First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan, has targeted the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) General Muhammadu Buhari saying his brain is dead.

Patience Jonathan called on Nigerian women to vote en-masse for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) during the forthcoming presidential election.

Speaking on Tuesday during the PDP women presidential campaign rally held in Kogi state, the first lady stated that Buhari is unfit and too old to be the Nigeria’s president Daily Times reports.

“Wetin him dey find again? Him dey drag with him pikin mate,”she said in Pidgin English.“Old man wey no get brain, him brain don die pata pata.”

Moved by the cheers of the crowd, the first lady sporadically sang to taunt her husband’s main challenger at this month’s presidential election.“If you vote Buhari, na your prison; if you vote APC, na your wahala,”she sang.

“What is change?

Why did you not change things when you were there? Is it now that you want to be doing the things you weren’t doing before?“

Jonathan looked at us and said women, I am giving you the position of the chief justice of this country.

Okonjo-Iweala is a woman, Diezani is a woman. Seventy percent of his cabinet are women.“He also gave us the opportunity to start enrolling for the regular combatant course at the NDA (Nigerian Defence Academy).