KEBBI STATE GOVERNMENT SPONSORS MASS MARRIAGE FOR WIDOWS AND DIVORCEES: MARRIES OFF 100 WIDOWS, DIVORCEES IN MASS MARRIAGE

          Governor Abubakr Bagudu of Kebbi State.

Reports reaching our news desk from Kebbi State has it that the State Government on Saturday married off 100 widows and divorcees in a mass wedding held in the palace of Emir of Argungu, Samila Mera.

The marriages were arranged by the state and the Argungu Local Government to reduce the number of women, widowed or divorced, left to fend for themselves and their children.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Kebbi state government paid N20,000 “kayandaki” for the brides, with gifts of a collection of brass; enamel bowls; decorative cups and saucers; blankets and bed sheets which are symbol of their married status.

They also gave N30,000 to the brides to start their entrepreneurial businesses.

It was also reported that the Kebbi State government donated furniture and kitchen utensils worth N150,000 to each couple, while the Commissioner for Justice, Hajiya Ramatu Gulma, also donated one wrapper to each of the couples.

Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State commended the efforts of the emir and the local government for the initiative and urged parents to respect the marriage institution, saying it’s a way to reduce the number of single women in the society.

He called on the couples to continue to be patient and tolerant to enable them have peaceful homes, pointing out that marriage was all about endurance and patience.

“The importance of marriage cannot be over-emphasised as it will promote peace among the couples and will also enable them to get more blessings and God’s mercy,’’ the governor said.

The Emir of Argungu, in his remarks, also commended the state government and the local government for collaborating to organise the occasion in line with Islamic teaching.

“’We are trying to provide women with stable homes, financial and social security,” he said.

NIGERIA POLICE KILLS YET ANOTHER PORT HARCOURT MILITANT GENERAL, SEA PIRATE & KIDNAP KINGPIN

Suspects and recovered items on display by the Rivers State Police command to the press and public.

Operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team have have engaged a Militant General and Sea Piracy Kingpin in a gun battle in Port Harcourt and fatally injured him as he attempted to prevent his arrest.

    
     Nigerian Police on parade

The said Militant General who was known as Prosper David, later died as a result of theis said to have masterminded the kidnapping of Mrs. Tina Bob-Manuel on the 22nd November 2017.

According to a police statement, Prosper David who initially embraced the federal government’s Amnesty programme, later derailed and formed a kidnapping gand and moved to Bayelsa state.

Giving detailed information about the operation, the police said, “In follow up to the kidnapping of Mrs Tina Bob-Manuel, on 21 February 2018 at about 1045am, IRT operatives traced the kingpin, one Prosper David a “Militant General who embraced the federal Government Amnesty program but Later formed a kidnapping gang, to Bayelsa State were he was fatally injured during gun battle with operatives of the IGP-Intelligence Response Team IRT deployed to Port-Harcourt by IGP Ibrahim Kpotum Idris to fight kidnapping and other violent crimes.

“IRT operatives have been on his trail for long time after he masterminded the kidnap of Mrs Tina Bob-Manuel on 22nd November 2017 in her shop located at No.107 Nvuigwe Road Woji Port-Harcourt and several other kidnappings.

“Suspect went underground after the collection of ransom in two installments and when he sensed that the Police are closing in on him, he dropped his contact number known to his personal driver that was earlier arrested by the Police and relocated his family from Victory Estate Azikoro, Yenagoa in December 2017 to the Creek, all in a bid to avoid arrest.

“After about 90-days of painstaking intelligence gathering with Technical Assistance Support from TIU, suspect was tracked to Asiri area of Yenagoa Bayelsa state to his new rented apartment.

“On sighting the operatives, he ran into his apartment ceiling from where he engaged the operatives but was neutralized and fatally injured.

“Suspects arrested for the kidnappings are, Johnson Denis driver to the kidnap kingpin and the Militant General. Exhibit recovered incude one of the victims phone.

Prosper David (Deceased) kidnap and Sea Piracy Kingpin and “Militant General”.

“Exhibits recovered from him include: One AK47 Riffle, 1 magazine, 26 rounds of live ammunition, 4 expended Ammunition and a Nokia phone belonging to his kidnap victim with which ransom negotiation was done.

Benjamin Johnson and Anthony Joshua are 2 more gang members of the Port Harcourt kidnap Kingpin who were also arrested between 21/2/18 and 14/3/18.

The IRT added that serious efforts are in top gear to arrest other gang members and recovery of more arms.

2018 FIFA WC: GERNOT RHOR LISTS SOME EAGLES WITH AUTOMATIC SHIRTS

           
Gernot Rhor in pix

Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr, has listed some national team players who will automatically make his team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia.

According to the tactician, they include captain John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses, Balogun and William Troost-Ekong etc.

“We have a few very experienced players, such as our captain John Obi Mikel (Tianjin Teda, China). Our two central defenders William Troost-Ekong (Bursaspor, Turkey) and Leon Balogun (Mainz, Germany) are also very important to us,” the Eagles head coach said in an interview.

“We have players such as Victor Moses (Chelsea, England) and Alex Iwobi (Arsenal, England) – they are also very important for us.

“We have many young players, and everyone has a role to play in our team.

“But the most important leaders are our captain Mikel, the vice-captain Ogenyi Onazi, and Ahmed Musa also”, he concluded.

DRUG PEDDLING: NDLEA RAISES ALARM OVER USE OF UNDER-AGED STREET CHILDREN

          
NDLEA operatives

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Oyo State Command, has raised alarm over the use of under-aged street children in the sale of hard drugs in the state.

Mrs Mutiat Okuwobi, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the command, raised the alarm in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Ibadan.

Okuwobi said the trend had posed very serious danger to the state and called on parents not to allow their children turn into street urchins.

“In some areas you will find that street children are used to perpetrate sales of hard drugs; most of these children are under-aged.

“They don’t really start out by using the drugs but they help in selling it, especially marijuana or cannabis sativa. These children are supposed to be in school,” she said.

Okuwobi also decried the high rate of use of drugs among adults and adolescents in the state.

“The use of tramadol and cough syrup is trendy now; these are conventional drugs people use. It is mostly abused by youths. Some children also abuse these drugs.

“Children that take these drugs must have probably collected them from older persons as they cannot on their own buy them,” he said.

The PRO further said that few children had been arrested along with some youths abusing the conventional drugs in some bad joints.

She also said there had been some reported cases of secondary school students in the state who indulge in hard drugs.

“We have some secondary schools around our command office at Onireke where students are involved in hard drugs and the authorities do call us for intervention.

“We have counseled some students and there is the need for continuous sensitisation among the students and that is what we do generally to stop the menace.” Okuwobi said.

HOUSE OF REPS TO PROBE ALLEGED IMPORTATION OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT BY GOV. YAHAYA BELLO

                                
Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Yahaya Bello

The House of Representatives says it will investigate the alleged importation of arms, ammunition and military equipment by Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

This followed a matter of urgent public importance by Rep. Sunday Karimi (Kogi-PDP), who noted that the House must act fast to save the lives of ordinary citizens in the state.

Karimi also expressed worry that the Nigeria Customs had done little or nothing about the said subject matter.

“Instead of the Nigeria Custom Service to promptly arrest the importer of the treasonable act of importing military hardware and items into the country, it only requested the importer to provide End-user certificate from the National Security Adviser.

The lawmaker noted that only the military was constitutionally empowered to import such item.

“I am afraid that if the trend is allowed to continue, politicians, state governors and private citizens will start to import arms under the guise of equipping the military.

“This, in the long run, will jeopardize security and lives of innocent Nigerians,” he said.

Supporting the motion, Reps. Hassan Saleh (Benue-APC) and Nnena Elendu-Ukeje (Abia-PDP), said that the problem facing the country today had to do with security.

The lawmakers stressed the need for the executive to take the proliferation of arms in the country seriously.

The motion was unanimously adopted by members when it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara.

The House, therefore, resolved to invite the Comptroller General of Customs, Retired Col Hameed Ali to explain why it only requested end user permit.

OYEGUN’S TENURE EXTENSION WILL NOT HINDER TINUBU’S RECONCILIATION ASSIGNMENT – HON. ABDULRAZAK HAMDAS

             
Tinubu and Oyegun

A House of Representatives member, Abdulrazak Namdas, said All Progressives Congress (APC) reconciliation assignment of Sen. Bola Tinubu’s committee would not be hindered by the party’s National Working Committee’s (NWC's)tenure extension.

Namdas told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday that he was optimistic that the reconciliation committee would work amicably with people within the party’s national leadership.

“Tinubu, because of his leadership qualities has been asked to mediate and the Tinubu we know is a member of the APC; whatever issue that arises in APC, he has the capacity to resolve those issues.

“He is an elder and there is nothing he has not said. I think Tinubu will be able to work with anybody,” he said.

The lawmaker said that the recent extension of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun’s tenure as National Chairman of APC by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party was constitutional.

He said that NEC was guided by the rules in the party in the decision, adding that the action was lawful.

“If the NEC which comprises the National Working Committee (NWC) and all the state chapters deemed it necessary to do so, who are we to say no.

“By my understanding, if there are issues, they will be resolved. But, I think that the extension is not something wrong.”

On the recent President Muhammadu Buhari’s reinstatement of Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf, who was on suspension, Namdas said it was proper.

He said that Yusuf’s recall would help in the investigation of N10 billion allegedly missing at the agency.

“We are meant to understand that the executive secretary made some revelations that led to his reinstatement.

“If something led to his suspension and later the government realised that he did the right thing, there is nothing wrong in asking him to come back.

“The only thing we have now is that there were two withdrawals from the NHIS of N10 billion that led to a motion being brought before the House.

“As far as we are concerned, this is the area we should focus on because he alleged that even when he was away, the withdrawal was made without his knowledge.

“And, by the law, the agency needs to be the one to request for that money and he does not know who requested for the money.

“If not that he is back nobody would have known who authorised it. So, it was good that he came back; at least he is now able to tell Nigerians that he was not responsible for the authorisation,’’ he said.

The lawmaker added that “if N10 billion was missing when he was suspended, who knows, somebody can also allege that his suspension was to give way for the withdrawal of the N10 billion.

“So, whichever way, until the investigation proves otherwise, I think suspension and reinstatement are normal in the service.

“Once somebody is suspended for alleged wrongdoing and he is discovered not to have done so, there is nothing wrong in reinstating him.

“But, when investigation proves that he is wrong, then he has to go", Hon. Namdas as concluded

HOW TO RESET YOUR LOST SMILE MIFI ADMIN PASSWORD:

RESETTING YOUR LOST SMILE MIFI ADMIN PASSWORD:

I recently got a Smile MiFi from a friend. Unfortunately he has forgotten the admin password to the web interface. How can I reset it to a new password?

ANSWER:

It really depends on the type of  MiFi you have. Since you did not attach the image am going to give you possible options.

If it is a Franklin MiFi, simply remove the back and you will see the reset but at the top left corner.

With the MiFi2, check near the simcard slot. you will see a hole through which you will press using a pin to reset it to defaults.

To access the admin interface, go to 192.168.10.1 when connected to the MiFi. you will be able to change the WiFi SSID and password.

[TUTORIAL] HOW TO CHANGE SMILE 4G WIRELESS PASSWORD AND SSID

Your Smile Mifi or CPE's SSID is that name that people see (under available networks) when they wish to connect to your Wifi (wirelesss) network.

The default password to your SMILE 4G LTE hub Wireless / Wi-Fi is located just under the device.

To change from this default password to a preferred one:

Follow these steps to change SMILE 4G WiFi password and SSID

Connect to the SMILE Wi-Fi using the default password; its Wi-Fi Key (WPA/WPA2) located under the modem

Launch your browser

Open http://homerouter.cpe/ or 20192.168.8.1 or 192.168.1.1

Login using your credentials. If you've never changed them then you can type anything as Username and Password
(NOTE that you may never be able to change the username in future so type carefully)

When logged in, go to Settings > Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Basic Settings

Under Wi-Fi Basic Settings, you can change your SSID, Hide SSID broadcast, Wi-Fi password and other settings

Click Apply when you're done

THE MALABU DEAL SAGA

Recently, an Italian court ruled that the executives of Shell and Eni should go on trial over allegations of bribery in the OPL245 purchase from Nigeria’s Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd in 2011. How much do Nigerians know about the nitty-gritty of the scandal? THE SHIFT SOCIETY, a Nigerian civil group promoting transparency and human rights, offers a bird’s eye view on the history, issues and dramatis personae in probably the most problematic deal in the history of the country’s oil industry.

In April 1998, the government of Gen. Sani Abacha awarded an Oil
Prospecting Licence (OPL) to Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd for Block 245. The owners ofMalabu were listed as Kweku Amafagha,
Mohammed Sani and Hassan Hindu.
Premium Times, an award winning investigative website, later revealed that Chief Dan Etete, the then Minister ofPetroleum under Abacha, was the “Kweku”,
Mohammed Abacha, son of the former Head of State, was the “Mohammed Sani” and Hassan Hindu was the wife of Alhaji Hassan Adamu, who was then Nigeria's Ambassador to the US.

Malabu Oil Ltd made an advance payment of $2m on the concessionary $20m signature bonus for the oil block. Meanwhile, Malabu Oil Ltd and Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD), a special vehicle of Shell, signed an agreement for the block and Malabu Oil was to transfer 40% interest to SNUD. In 2001, along the line, Gen.Abacha died. Then a new President and commander in Chief came onboard after elections in a new democratic dispensation. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was the new President and commander in chief as a civilian president. He, immediately and without hesitation revoked the licence and invited Shell to bid

for it. Shell, however, got it and went into a production sharing agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Shell agreed to pay a new (whooping sum) signature bonus of  $210m — the biggest ever in Nigeria's history then. The oil company paid $1m of the
amount to the Federal Government then and paid the balance of $209m into an escrow account, jointly operated by it and the Federal Government. This was in apparent anticipation of litigation by Malabu Oil Ltd over the revocation.

The House of Representatives, then, held a public hearing and asked the Federal Government to return the licence to Malabu. The, then, president Obasanjo's led federal government refused, following which Malabu Oil Ltd headed for the courts. It lost but later went on appeal. Eventually, the Federal Government buckled and agreed to settle out of court. It was then agreed that OPL 245 should be returned to Malabu Oil Ltd as the rightful owners. However, Shell kicked and filed an arbitration case against Nigeria at the International Centre for the Settlement of International Disputes (ICSID), an organ of the World Bank, claiming not less than $1.5 billion from Nigeria for alleged breach of contract.

When Obasanjo's successor, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua came to power in 2007, he set up an inter-ministerial committee headed by Chief Michael Aondoakaa, his Attorney-General, to look into it. The committee’s recommendations were not implemented as Yar’Adua battled ill-health for most of his tenure. He died in May 2010.

When Dr. Goodluck Jonathan assumed office, Malabu brought up the 2006
agreement, also called “consent judgement”. Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, the then Attorney-General, reportedly advised Jonathan to honour the agreement
so that progress could be made on the potentially lucrative oil block. In 2011,

Malabu decided to sell the block but was no longer ready to discuss with Shell because of “betrayal”. Eni of Italy, which already owns the contiguous OPL 244,
stepped in. After negotiations, a price of $1.1bn was agreed with Malabu by
Eni/Shell. And the deal was done. Eni/Shell paid a total of $1.3bn ($1.1bn to Malabu to buy the block, and $210m as “signature bonus” to the Federal Government).

So where was the scandal? Rather than pay directly to Malabu, Shell/Eni paid to the JP Morgan's account of a third party, FGN, who then transferred part of the payment to Malabu. Global witness and Finance Uncovered that anti-corruption organisations based in the UK, would later reveal that leaked emails from
the executives of Shell and Eni suggested they knew that bribes were going to be
paid from the deal. To avoid the bribes being traced to them, Shell and Eni

allegedly decided to pay directly to FGN
for onward disbursement. That is the reason for the indictment of the oil executives.
Officially, Eni/Shell insist they paid $1.3bn to FGN, and not Malabu, for OPL 245.

Any other thing we need to know?

Dan Etete had been convicted of money laundering in France in an unrelated deal,
but his involvement in OPL 245 transaction raised the eyebrows of observers who then went to search for possible wrongdoing. What happened to OPL 245?

All is fine. Oil and gas discoveries had been made in Etan and Zabazaba fields in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Eni continues prospecting. It later awarded a $5.42bn contract to Italian engineering, construction and drilling contractor, Saipem,
for chartering, operations and maintenance
for a Floating Production Storage Offloading tanker. Production is expected
to start in 2020.

THE BIG QUESTION, THEN, WAS WETHER $1.1bn ACTUALLY DIVERTED???

Most commentators on the payment of $1.1bn to Malabu by Shell/Eni in the OPL 245 deal use the word “diversion” - suggesting that the money belongs to the Nigerian government. Infographics have been used to depict how the money could have gone into social services, such as health and education. As plausible as this sounds, it is not exactly correct. Yet this notion still generates the most public anger about the deal.

Having allocated OPL 245 to Malabu and collected $210m signature bonus, the Federal Government no longer had a stake in the block. However, the federal government would still make money in taxes, royalties and levies when oil production actually starts.

Rtrd. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma’s Sapetro subsequently sold 45% of OPL 246 to CNOOC of China for $1.7bn and nobody said the Federal Government lost $1.7bn or that the proceeds should have gone into social services. For example, if you buy a plot of land from government for N1m and resell it for N3m, the profit is yours.
Government could still make money from the land use charge, property tax and other levies.

WORLD BANK SPEAKS ON SCHEME REPORTEDLY ASSISTING NIGERIANS FINANCIALLY

The World Bank has denied report making the rounds online that it is giving out money to individuals to do business.

In a statement released in Abuja by Olufunke Olufon, World Bank warned Nigerians to be wary of fraudsters parading as its representatives and soliciting fees to enlist Nigerians in a fake scheme.

Olufon, spokesperson of the bank in Nigeria, disclosed that the group has been going about demanding registration fees of about N1000 from unsuspecting Nigerians in communities to be enlisted in the scheme.

The statement reads: “Several correspondences targeting innocent citizens are being circulated falsely claiming that the World Bank is giving out money to individuals to do business and demanding processing fees of N1000 from prospective awardees.

“Please note that: The World Bank is not behind this multi-purpose scheme. The World Bank does not request for personal financial information for applicants to its programmes.”

“Members of the public are advised to verify any information regarding any World Bank-assisted programmes purportedly offered by any individual or groups on its website.”

Ms. Olufon added that the World Bank would not be held responsible for any refunds of fees solicited by fraudsters.