Month: January 2024

Amid the controversy surrounding the move by the Federal Government to relocate the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN from Abuja to Lagos, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has declared that there is no going back on the decision.

The minister spoke on Wednesday when he appeared on Channels TV programme, Politics Today.

DAILY POST recalls that Senator Ali Ndume from Borno South as well as chieftains of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Northern Elders Forum, NEF, and other northern groups had kicked against the moves

.According to them, the relocation of FAAN headquarters and some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to Lagos was an attempt to marginalise the north.

But addressing the controversy, Keyamo simply said, “We are going ahead. The directive has been given.”

Keyamo said the whole issue was compounded with the fact that FAAN is not yet digitalised and so, in one year, they spend half a billion naira on a flight ticket between Lagos and Abuja alone.

You see them flying every day to and fro Abuja to get one file signed. They fly every day, back and forth. In one year, they spent close to half a billion naira on flight tickets. N450 million on flight tickets alone,” he said.

Investigation of False Allegations and Sustained Campaign of Calumny Against my Person by Unknown Element.”

In the letter dated 9 January, 2023, Mr Gbajabiamila @femigbaja said: “Over the past six months, unknown individuals or groups have made a sustained effort using social media to spread unfounded allegations of corruption, malfeasance, and abuse of office against my person. This campaign of calumny has gotten progressively more aggressive in tone and content over the last month, thus necessitating this letter.

“I have served in the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the past two decades, first in the legislature, where I rose to the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and now in the executive as Chief of Staff to the President. In that time, my efforts to ensure probity in the management of public resources are well documented. As Speaker of the House of Representatives, I presided over the national budget for all ministries, departments and agencies for four years without blemish.

“While it is my inclination to ignore these attacks as part of the usual mischief of politics, my position as Chief of Staff to the President compels me to act because falsehoods left unchallenged soon take on the toga of truth. Furthermore, the aggressive escalation of these attacks suggests that the perpetrators of these attacks will continue until they are held to account. For these reasons, the stoic silence I have maintained on this matter thus far will no longer suffice.

“I am satisfied that I have not acted in any way to warrant or justify these attacks. Therefore, I am requesting your office to investigate the sources and substance of these false allegations. Rather than hide behind the anonymity of the internet, let my accusers be unmasked to substantiate their claims or face the consequences of their libel against me.”

The chief of staff to the president, therefore, requested “prompt intervention” of security agencies in the matter.

The letter indicated that “a selection of some of the more egregious attacks of the past few months” were attached to aid security agencies in their investigations.

Billionaire businessman and chairman of Geregu Power Plc, Mr Femi Otedola, has emerged as the chairperson of the board of FBN Holdings Plc, whose flagship arm is First Bank.

Otedola was passed the baton at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Group in Lagos on Wednesday.

6became a non-executive director of FBN Holdings on 14 August 2023, months after he acquired a substantial stake in First Bank.

The 61-year-old is the financial institution’s biggest and only substantial shareholder, holding a 5.6 per cent stake.

He has had investments in port agency, shipping, storage and insurance brokerage. In 2007, he acquired a controlling interest in African Petroleum, which later metamorphosed into Forte Oil. Forte Oil itself would later be sold and renamed Ardova.

Geregu Power, which he took public in October 2022, accounts for about nine per cent of Nigeria’s grid electricity.

He has held several board memberships, including President of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping and as past Chairman of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

He was part of the National Economic Management Team, chaired by former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2011 to 2015. At the moment, he is a member of the National Peace Committee.

A botched move to become the chief shareholder of Transnational Corporation, Nigeria’s biggest conglomerate by market value, in April 2023 saw him sell his stake of 6.3 per cent to rival ony Elumelu.

He succeeded Ahmad Abdullahi, a seasoned economist who was appointed chair of the Holdco on 17 December 2021.

This January, Otedola acquired a significant stake in Dangote Cement, a company largely owned by his friend, Aliko Dangote. The exact value of his shares remained unknown, but those close to him say his holdings are worth more than N6 billion.

Femi Otedola is a dyed-in-wool and visionary entrepreneur whose energy is directed at transforming enterprises and putting them on the path of growth,” First Bank Holding said of the businessman while announcing his appointment as non-executive director in August 2023.

“He was thrust into the public’s consciousness with his foray into the downstream sector of the oil industry when he started Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited.”

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has uncovered a religious sect laundering money for terrorists, its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede has said.

Olukoyede, who made the revelation at dialogue on ‘Youth, Religion, and the Fight against Corruption’, on Wednesday in Abuja, also said N7 billion fraud proceeds was traced to another religious organisation.

He noted that the EFCC had found religious organisations, institutions, sects and bodies culpable of money laundering in the country

Olukoyede said one of such religious bodies dragged the Commission to court to protect its leader after laundered money was traced to its bank account.

The EFCC boss said the religious body got a court injunction restraining the Commission from inviting, arresting or prosecuting its leader.

However, Olukoyede did not name the concerned religious organisations

We will not give up on recovering the stolen funds,” Olukoyede said.

“It is so sad that as I stand before the eminent audience today, that our experience in fighting corruption has to do with the religious leaders and even traditional rulers

.“As I stand before you there is a matter we are handling of over N30 billion fleeced from Nigeria, and we were able to trace N7 billion to a particular religious body.

“As we wrote a letter to the leader, the next thing we saw was a restraining order, stopping us from inviting them, stopping us from recovering the money.”

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Residents and motorists plying the busy Warri and Effurun roads have expressed joy with the mobilisation to site of Julius Berger to commence the construction of flyover bridges and road expansion works in the twin metropolis of Delta State.

The construction giant on Monday mobilised to DSC Roundabout to commence the construction of the three flyovers, cloverleaf, pedestrian bridges and ancillary road expansion projects as part of the plans of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s administration for the infrastructure development and urban renewal of Warri, Uvwie and environs.

A supervising engineer from the State Ministry of Works, Emmanuel Oghorodje who was on ground to ensure the smoothness of the operation informed that the contractor has completed the planning and demarcation of the roads before mobilising to site and expressed confidence that with the commitment of Governor Oborevwori to ensuring the speedy completion of the projects, the company will deliver as scheduled.

He assured that measures have been put in place to reduce traffic jam on the road while the construction works are on, and urged road users to follow instructions and obey the traffic officers.

Many of the motorists lauded Governor Oborevwori for the landmark projects and called for its speedy completion, just as many of the traders in the area were full of praises for the Governor, noting that when completed the projects will boost economic activities in the metropolis.

It would be recalled that on October 18, 2023, the Delta Government and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc signed a N78 billion contract for the construction of three flyovers, a cloverleaf, pedestrian bridges and ancillary road expansion projects in the oil-rich Warri and Effurun metropolis, regarded as the economic nerve centre of Delta State.