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Category: Politics

Dangote Says His Ex-Girlfriend Tried To Extort $5 Million From Him
Africa’s richest man, Alike Dangote, has told a U.S. court how his former American girlfriend, who exposed a part of his body via a social media post, is trying to extort $5 million from him.
the documents of a civil suit he filed with a pseudonym against the lady identified as Autumn Spikes at a Miami-Dade County Court in Florida, United States of America.
The wealthy businessman used the pseudonym, John Doe, with AD, that stands for the ‘acronym’ for his name, Aliko Dangote, as his alias.
He seeks “excess of $30,000” in damages against Ms Spikes.
One of the court documents filed by the plaintiff on January 22, is titled, ‘Complaint petition for declaratory judgment complaint for (about) extortion petition for injunctive relief’.
The document, among others, obtained by accused Ms Spikes of libel, defamation, cyberstalking and a breach of agreement ”to keep their relationship private and off the social media”.
It stated that Mr Dangote’s “business acumen has made him a target for coercion by the defendant”, adding that Ms Spikes demanded “meritless claims of $5 million” in the nature of “palimony to which she is not legally entitled”.
Palimony is an amount of money a law court orders someone to pay regularly to a former partner whom they were living with but were not married to.
“Autumn Spikes has made a demand that the plaintiff pays her five million dollars ($5,000,000.00) as shown in Exhibit 1,” Mr Dangote’s court document states.
How it began
The affair between Mr Dangote and Ms Spikes first came to public knowledge on January 1, when the lady using the Instagram handle, Allarounda1, posted a video clip showing herself seated and Mr Dangote stretched on a couch.
The images, which went viral on social media, appeared to have been captured during their good times together.
It showed most of Mr Dangote’s body covered in an orange blanket but with his buttocks exposed while he fiddled with his phone.
Ms Spikes also shared other images of the billionaire but later deleted them.
In later updates, she said she did not make her affairs public on social media to acquire fame.
She also claimed her action was aimed at helping Mr Dangote ”clear his name of the embarrassment caused by another ex-mistress of the businessman, Bea Lewis, who exposed their intimate affairs on social media”.
January 28, 2021
Buhari nominates Adolphus as Auditor-General
President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Mr Adolphus Aghughu as the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF).
Adolphus, who has been Acting Auditor-General since last October, following the retirement of Mr. Anthony Mkpe Ayine, hails from Edo State.
According to a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Babajide Omoworare, Buhari had already forwarded his letter of nomination to the Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan.
The Auditor-General-designate holds a Masters in Economics. He is a Fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Member, Nigerian Institute of Management and Associate member of Chartered Institute of Taxation.
He became an Auditor in the Office of the Auditor-General in 1992 and was promoted to the rank of Director of Audit in January 2016.
In the same vein, the President has nominated Barrister Victor Muruako for appointment as Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC).
This was also contained in the same statement issued by Senator Omoworare and made available to State House Correspondents yesterday.
Muruako, a legal practitioner had served as the Secretary to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and currently acts as the Chairman of the Commission. He is from Imo State.
January 28, 2021
2023 Election: Registration exercise will determine our chances – Gov Sani Bello

Tom Okpe, Abuja

The Governor of Niger State has maintained that the All Progressives Congress APC membership registration and revalidation excercise will determine the party chances in the 2023 national general election.

Governor Bello who is also Chairman of the exercise told newsmen in Abuja yesterday while inaugurating the respective State’s Committees that the intention of the party is to expand the party membership.

He said: “The whole intention of this exercise is to expand our membership base. For we believe when this is done it will increase our chances in the next coming election.”

The chairman noted that the last exercise was done in 2014 and since then, “we have members who have lost their lives, few that have left the party.

“We also have many members that joined the party and young boys and girls that have turned 18 between 2014 and today. We believe they should be given opportunity to register as members of our great party, the APC.

“We also have members from other parties who have decamped and have come to join us over time with the feeling that they have been fully accepted to the APC family. This provide for them an opportunity to be fully accepted or to feel at home during the revalidation exercise.”
Gov Bello who pointed that the objective of the exercise is to ensure, no one is left behind assured that any interested person or group is free to join APC out of the belief that, ‘the more, the merrier.’

He also observed that commandeering or hijacking of registration materials will not be tolerated adding; “we should also know that domination of the registration process by an individual or group will not be accepted.”
In his contribution, the Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Umar Ganduje stated that people are eager to go for the registration because so many new entrants are in the party but without registration saying, “I believe we are going to have an effective and efficient registration process and will end up with very high registered members.

“We in Kano are the largest democracy in Nigeria and through the registration exercise, we shall prove to all that we are in deed the largest democracy in the country,” he added.
January 27, 2021
Sen. Makarfi Kicks against Ultimatums
..Say’s Leaders must avoid temptation to politicise country’s security issues
By Gabriel Gabriel, kaduma
Two times former Governor of Kaduna State Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi has kicked against ultimatums given to Nigerians living in various parts of the country, saying the action is counterproductive to solution of enormous security challenges facing the country, every growing society is confronted with.
The former Senator however said that even though agitations against criminal elements cannot be ignored because people have the legitimate rights to raised their voices against criminality perpetrated by anybody or group.
He however advised that the leaders must rise above sentiments and emotions by looking more broadly and more holistically at issues and their pros and cons, in order to ensure justice to all.
Makarfi who made the remarks in a statement he issued, signed and made available to journalists in Kaduna also stated that leaders, across partisan and other divides,. must also guard against the temptation to politicized the issue of security and realized that you must have to have a country before you can play politics.
“Leaders, political, religious, traditional, socio cultural and others must also be smart and guard their utterances and actions, as the handling of some of the issues arising from some of the problems requires sensitivity, delicate balancing as well as the capacity to operate above the fray.
“It is in this light that I consider the issuance of ultimatums and counter ultimatums to Nigerians living in various parts of the country by leaders and cultural groups across the divides as counterproductive and a far cry from the real solution to the problem,” he stated.
While he expressed satisfaction with the statement by the Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum to the effect that no ultimatum has been given to anybody by any Governor, Makarfi stated that “This s not to say however that agitations against criminal elements are to be ignored.
“But leaders must rise above sentiments and emotions by looking more broadly and more holistically at issues and their pros and cons, in order to ensure justice to all”, he noted..
While he called on the Federal Government to intensify its partnership with the States and other leaders to bring an end to the banditry, kidnappings and other criminalities across the length and breadth of our dear Country, Makarfi enjoyed that governments at all levels should also do well to be more accommodating of critics and criticisms and avoid falling into the trap of always looking at and seeing critics as enemies, adding that “critics are not necessarily enemies, not even opponents; they just happen to see things from different perspectives.
“By engaging positively with critics, governments have the dual advantage of analyses from alternative perspectives as well as the opportunity to educate the critics on the insights to their own perspectives that the critics may otherwise be unaware of.
Earlier, he stated that “Of all the challenges, to me, the biggest and most scary is the seeming breakdown of security in most parts of the country. That the provision of security is the primary purpose of government, is a trite and worn-out cliché, but it bears repeating here.
“Governments at all levels must therefore strive to remain faithful to this mandate, realising though that they need the support and understanding of all citizens to succeed.
Incidences of banditry, kidnapping and other forms of criminalities are becoming the order of the day across the country. Economic and social activities are therefore stalling, leading to a stagnation of our development as a people and a nation.
There can be no development without stability; and there can be no stability without adequate security that affords all the chance to pursue various legitimate means of livelihood.
And no investor, local or foreign will bring their capital to a place in which security of life and property is not guaranteed.
So, North, South, East and West, we need to realize that we are in a deeper pit than we seem to acknowledge.
“Governments at all levels must therefore lead the quest for us to get out of this quagmire by upping the ante and tempo of this fight against insecurity in all its ramifications. The rejigging of the security architecture and equipping it with all the necessary wherewithal is paramount.
“Even though this is government’s primary responsibility, it cannot be effectively shouldered to the exclusion of the citizens.
“It is therefore incumbent on governments at all levels to embrace all and give all a sense of belonging through inviting and as much as practicable, working on the contributions of all, irrespective of political differences, ethnic or religious background to ensure the success of the fight.
Every Nigerian is a critical stakeholder in this project; therefore, all perspectives should be harnessed and deployed in prosecuting this fight.

“We, the led, must also realize that we have a part to play to ease the burden on the governments. And this we can all do by coming together, setting aside all differences, be they political, religious, tribal, geographical and any other, to launch a massive onslaught on this monster, which does not discriminate on who, where and when it attacks.
“A situation in which we allow emotions to rule our decision-making faculties, leading to incendiary remarks by some of us from all parts of the Country who ordinarily ought to have known better is a recipe for loss of focus, which ultimately leads to doom”, he stated.
He therefore called on all of us, the leaders and the led, to put on our thinking caps and realize that we are all in this mess together and it takes the coming together of all of us to get out of it.
“All of us, across all the partisan and other divides must also guard against the temptation to politicize the issue of security. We must realize that we have to have a country before we can play politics”, he added.
January 27, 2021
45 Senate Republicans vote to declare Trump’s impeachment trial illegal
Moments after senators were sworn in Tuesday as jurors in former President Trump’s impeachment trial, Republicans forced a vote on the constitutionality of the process that strongly suggested Democrats won’t be able to get the two-thirds support they will need for a conviction next month.
Forty-five Republicans supported a resolution by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that said the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is a private citizen and no longer president. Democrats had the votes to table Paul’s motion, with support from five Republicans.
Sen. Rand Paul – Trump’s impeachment trial illegal
But the level of GOP support for Paul’s effort underscored how difficult it will be to get 17 Republicans to join Democrats in voting to convict Trump.
“Forty-five votes means the impeachment trial is dead on arrival,” Paul said after the vote. “We’re excited about it. It’s one of the few times in Washington where a loss is actually a victory.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the theory that the Constitution prohibits a trial of a former official is “flat-out wrong by every frame of analysis.”
He pointed out that the Constitution allows the Senate to not only remove an impeached official from office, but also bar him or her from holding future office.
“If the framers intended impeachment to merely be a vehicle to remove sitting officials from their office, they would not have included that additional provision,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Republicans who joined Democrats against the Paul measure were Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Though many more GOP lawmakers have condemned Trump’s actions in inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the party has largely coalesced around the idea that an impeachment trial of a former president is unconstitutional.
Republicans say the fact that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is not presiding at the trial is proof that it is not valid. The Constitution says that the chief justice must preside at trials of a president. Roberts has reportedly signaled he does not want to be involved, and Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) will preside over Trump’s trial instead. Leahy, who has previously called on Trump to resign, will still get to vote.
“I think it’s a sham impeachment,” Paul said Monday. “If the chief justice isn’t coming over, it’s just a partisan farce.”
Democrats and several legal experts say there is a precedent for the Senate to conduct an impeachment trial after an official has left office. In 1876, the Senate held an impeachment trial of a war secretary who resigned immediately before he was impeached by the House.
Paul’s motion — while procedural — forced Republicans into a difficult position. While several Republicans agree that a trial is not valid, a few have left the door open to conviction.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for instance, told his fellow Republicans in a memo two weeks ago — while Trump was still in office — that he would listen to the legal arguments in the case, raising the possibility that he might vote to convict. But Tuesday, he supported Paul’s motion.
Some Republicans privately interpreted McConnell’s comments earlier this month as a means of keeping the threat of conviction on the table while Trump was still in office. Now that the president is gone, Republican leadership may not be eager to divide members of their party with an impeachment trial.
Democrats cautioned against reading the vote on the Paul resolution as a precursor for the vote on Trump’s conviction, as did Republicans such as Toomey, who voted with Democrats, and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who supported Paul. “I’ve not made my mind up,” Portman said. “I’m a juror.”
But others are more skeptical. Sen. Richard M. Burr (R-N.C.) said the odds that Trump is convicted are “probably as close to zero as you can get.”
Murkowski said the 45 senators who supported Paul in Tuesday’s vote may find themselves boxed in and would have a hard time voting for a conviction, even if they believed it was appropriate.
“We don’t get a lot of credit and we don’t get a lot of allowance to change your mind around here,” she said.
The Senate was somewhat caught off guard by having to vote Tuesday on a trial’s constitutionality.
Murkowski said she didn’t even know about the vote until Tuesday morning. “It was a little unfortunate that we had this spontaneous vote on an extraordinarily significant matter,” she said. “People had to make really quick decisions.”
Unlike Trump’s first impeachment trial, when many Republicans said he did nothing wrong, GOP lawmakers this time are not defending Trump’s efforts to overturn the electoral college vote, his encouragement of protesters or his slow action to stop the attack that left five dead.
Instead Republicans are focusing on the precedent of holding an impeachment trial for a former president.
“I still have concerns about the constitutionality of this, and then the precedent it sets in trying to convict a private citizen,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said. “So in the future can this be used against President Obama?”
Senators were sworn in Tuesday, and a summons was to be issued for Trump. But the trial will essentially be paused for two weeks to allow both sides time to prepare. Oral presentations will begin no sooner than Feb. 9.
January 27, 2021
APC Suspends Ondo Governorship Aspirant Jumoke Anifowose
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has suspended a governorship aspirant Mrs Jumoke Anifowose with immediate effect.
The Spokesperson of the party in the State, Alex Kalejaiye confirmed her suspension to our correspondent via a telephone on Wednesday.
Her suspension was contained in a letter signed by 25 out of the 29 officers of the party at a meeting in Igboroko unit 1, Ward2, Owo Local Government Area of the state.
She was said to have been suspended for alleged anti-party activities and for not making any contribution to the development of the party.
The letter also stated that she has not been attending party meetings in the last four years.
Mrs Anifowose who was a governorship aspirant in the last election in Ondo State, is also the daughter of the first civilian governor of the State, Chief Adekunle Ajasin.
January 27, 2021
APC welcomes new military chiefs
By Tom Okpe, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress, APC welcomes the appointment of new service chiefs following the resignation and retirement of the outgoing service chiefs.
The party in a press statement signed by John J. Akpan Udoedeghe, National Secretary
Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC said the party is confident that the new service chiefs will consolidate on the remarkable achievements of their predecessors in keeping the country safe and peaceful.
The Party calls for public support for the new service chiefs as they perform their constitutional roles of protecting our country’s territorial integrity and tackle emerging security threats saying: “We urge increased synergy among the armed forces in achieving these tasks.”
President Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointment of new Chief of Defence Staff, CDS as well as service chiefs sequel to the resignation of the CDS and the service chiefs and their retirement from service.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by the President’s Media Adviser, Femi Adesina, the President said the new Service Chiefs, Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff, while the outgoing military chiefs are, General Gabriel Abayomi Olonosakin, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
The ruling party further explained that recent incidents in the country has triggered quite divisive rhetoric in some quarters buttressing that; “It is counterproductive and dangerous to national security when we put ethnic spins to issues affecting us. In tackling security threats, we should criminalise crime, not ethnicity.
“As a nation, our strength remains in our diversity and we should continue to forge unity in that diversity. We urge peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding among Nigerians, irrespective of the part of the country we chose to live and work.”
The President congratulated the new Service Chiefs, urging them to be loyal and dedicated in the discharge of their responsibilities.
President Buhari also accepted the immediate resignation of the Service Chiefs and their retirement from service, thanking the outgoing Chiefs for what he called their “overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to our dear country,” wishing them well in their future endeavours.
January 27, 2021
Gov Makinde warns opposition against playing politics with security situation in Oyo
By lkechuhwu Obi
The governor of Oyo state Seyi Makinde through his Chief Press Secretary Mr. Taiwo Adisa, on Tuesday, warned opposition elements in the state against playing politics with the security situation in Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun parts of the state.

The governor’s aide maintained that most of the comments attributed to opposition elements on the security situation in the state missed the point due to pettiness, contempt and clear attempt to play to the gallery.

“Their utter attempt at showmanship and unpatriotic conduct portray them as babes and sucklings intervening on sensitive matters,” Adisa said.

According to him, if opposition elements were true lovers of the state, they should have used the occasion to demonstrate patriotism by empathising with the people of the state and coming up with their own ideas on how to address the situation.

He added that merely playing to the gallery only showcases them as ordinary politicians who do not think about the state but solely about the next election.

The statement by Adisa indicated that contrary to the picture being painted by the opposition, especially the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare, and some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which suggested that the government did nothing on the Ibarapa security challenge, the Makinde administration took a number of steps.

Adisa wondered why a Sunday Dare could pass the buck on insecurity to Makinde when it was obvious that the lack of action and apparent dereliction of duty by the APC-led Federal Government brought the entire country to its knees, security-wise.

“Whereas Nigerians can count on their fingers the number of states ravaged by insecurity in 2015, today, none of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, is free of kidnapping, banditry, rape, and other crimes.
“It is unwise and completely unwarranted for Dare to fail to tell the world what positive thing he, as a member of the Federal Executive Council, has contributed to assist the state in its battles against insecurity.

“The state of affairs security-wise in virtually all geopolitical zones of the country has exposed the failure of Dare’s boss and that’s a reality no Nigerian can deny,” he said.

According to the governor’s media aide, Makinde had, at the height of the insecurity in Ibarapa, deployed Operation Burst, a state-backed security outfit comprising the Army, Nigeria Security, and Civil Defence Corps and the Police to Ibarapa in large numbers.

The governor had also caused to be deployed, men and officers of MOPOL 72, located strategically in Ago-Are in Oke-Ogun axis.

He added that the government followed-up that deployment with the mass deployment of the men of the Oyo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, to Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun axes to quench the rising insecurity.

Adisa maintained that the mass deployment of security operatives to the area had begun to yield positive results in the last few weeks, stating that on January 9, the Amotekun Corps worked with Vigilante Group of Nigeria, local hunters, and Miyetti Allah Vigilantes to comb forests straddling four local governments in Ibarapa and Iwajowa Local Government Areas of Oke-Ogun.

He maintained that as a fallout of that exercise, which was abruptly called off due to the massive deployment of fake news by haters of the Oyo people, the teams neutralized suspected kidnappers and criminals in Ayete area, while a number of the suspects were arrested and handed over to the Police.

Adisa said that the narrative being carved by the opposition, suggesting that Makinde had been idling away, was baseless and reckless, stating that the fact that the Makinde administration has not been engaging in showmanship on efforts to tame insecurity should not be taken as doing nothing.

Adisa said: “We have noted with concern the fickle-mindedness being demonstrated by opposition elements in Oyo State, especially individuals like the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare.

“It is sad that Mr. Dare has revealed himself as a small mind by playing to the gallery on insecurity in Oyo State, which is a fallout of the failure of the Federal Government on security issues.

“It is equally sad that such an individual serving in a government under whose watch the security system of the country has collapsed could turn around to point fingers at Makinde.
“While one would not have loved to join issues with Dare and other individuals whose desperation for relevance can make them stop at nothing, including setting their own state on fire, it becomes imperative to correct the erroneous statement that Governor Makinde is being cowed by fear in the handling of state matters.

“For the avoidance of doubt, before those fanning the embers of ethnic crisis and their Hosanna crowd went to town with their showmanship gimmicks, the government had made serious efforts to tame the insecurity situation in Ibarapa.

“Apart from initiating several peace meetings between Yoruba and Fulani residents of the axes, the government took steps to deploy a heavy security presence to Ibarapa and at a point, even backed a community-based effort to rid the forests of kidnappers and bandits.
“It would be recalled that the government had backed a similar approach in Kisi, Igbeti and Igboho axes of the state and was able to achieve a great success without necessarily making noise in the media about it.

“But since Dare, like his co-travelers in the APC, have ignorantly ventured into a matter they have little or no knowledge about, it has become important to point out to them that governance is not done by engaging in pointless garrulous displays in the media.

“It is equally sad that whereas Mr. Dare could pontificate about insecurity in the media, he has failed to do the same at the Executive Council chambers of Aso Rock which hosts the Federal Executive Council meetings, which obviously could have helped the APC government arrest the insecurity situation in the country.

“For sometime now, Dare and his journeymen have been grandstanding on issues in their home state, though they have failed to use their offices to canvass the same positions at the Federal Executive Council or make any meaningful impact in the state.

“We would like to adminish Dare and his fellows in the rat race for 2023 governorship to toe the path of honour and stop advertising ignorance and displaying unpatriotic tendencies when it comes to issues affecting the state.
“Let them adhere to the well-accepted maxim: power belongs to God and only He decides whom it fits at every instance.”
January 26, 2021
FG commiserates with Sokoto government, traders over market fire
Federal Government on Monday commiserated with Sokoto State Government and traders over fire incident that recently destroyed about 9,600 shops at Shehu Shagari Modern Market popularly called New Market in Sokoto.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident occurred on Jan. 19, with an interim report indicating that it was caused by a power surge from a nearby electric transformer.
The Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, who led the FG delegation to the state said the president was deeply concerned about the devastating effects of the inferno.
Gambari said the president sent the delegation to commiserate with the victims and state government over the tragic incident, which he described as a huge loss to the nation at large.
He said the visit was also to show solidarity with the state government and assured that FG would assist in rebuilding the market.
January 25, 2021
Senate Pegs May 29 For Presidential Assent To PIB
President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan has said the Ninth Assembly will pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and secure a presidential assent by May 29, 2021.
Lawan also said the national assembly will ensure passage of the bill by April for onward transmission for Presidential assent ahead of May 29.
Lawan said this in his remark at the opening ceremony of the Two day Public Hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the Senate joint committee on Petroleum upstream, downstream and gas.
Lawan said the Ninth Assembly will be considering a hybrid PIB as against the solo bill that was introduced in 2008 and 2015.
Details later….
January 25, 2021