N/Assembly management asks lawmakers to vacate offices today

The National Assembly bureaucracy has asked members of the House of Representatives to pack all their personal belongings out of their offices latest Monday, May 18 (today), with just 17 days to the end of their tenure.

Findings by The PUNCH on Sunday showed that an internal memo from the management conveyed the directive to the 360 outgoing lawmakers.

Senior legislative aides and other non-civil service members of staff in the lawmakers’ offices reportedly received a similar memo.

“They started receiving the memo on Wednesday last week, specifically asking them to move their personal effects out of the offices by May 18 (today).

“Many of them actually started complying almost immediately, particularly members who are not coming back to be part of the 8th Assembly.

“I have seen a couple of lawmakers’ aides moving personal property out of the offices since the memo came in,” a National Assembly source informed The PUNCH in Abuja on Sunday.

More than 233 of the current members will be out of the House by June 5, though the memo was addressed to both returning and non-returning ones.

One official, who did not want to be named, claimed that the directive was “procedural” and meant to prepare the offices for re-allocation in the weeks ahead.

The official explained, “We have to prepare the offices because there is a lot of work ahead to be done.

“We are welcoming a new House. Most of the offices will be re-allocated. The name tags will change. Some ranking members will have to change offices.

“The same thing will apply to the sitting arrangements in the chambers. If we don’t start work now, we will not meet up with the schedule before the inauguration of the 8th Assembly.”

The official added that, “with or without memo,” it was expected that members would start moving their belongings out of the offices since the tenure was over.

When contacted, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, confirmed knowledge of the memo, but he dismissed it as “nothing serious.”

He said, “That one (memo) is nothing serious. I think it has to do with some renovations or repairs that they have to do in some of the offices.

“It is just to say, ‘give some space for the repairs’, a normal thing that happens.”

Pic: Annie Idibia & her daughters step out in corresponding outfits

Annie and her little girls looked exquisite in coordinating outfits as they ran errands yesterday May 17th. Annie’s mum is pictured on the far right.

Pics: Kaduna state Council of Chiefs pay courtesy visit toPresident-elect Buhari

The Kaduna State Council of Chiefs drove by HRH, the Emir of Zazzau, Alh Shehu Idris paid a graciousness visit to President-elect  General Buhari in Abuja today May 17th.

More pics bellow.

Cities In Sambisa And Myths Of Booby-traps

With shallow graves of unveiled bones, rivers of shed blood, wounded homes and don’t-ask-for-my-dad babies of the living martyr mothers of Sambisa, it is a tale that will never be untold.

Nigeria’s bloody six years; the never ending cold days and treacherous nights of 2010-2015. The long and short of this tale is that Jonathan and his Army chiefs lied to us. We were duped, fooled, defrauded and betrayed.

Boko Haram were never ghosts as Jonathan claimed. They were never an enemy he and the Nigerian army could not pinpoint. As we now know from videos of Sambisa and numbers of liberated abductees, Boko Haram established cities and towns in Sambisa. Far from being ghosts, they were a brazen nation hiding in clear aerial sight. Nigerian air force jets and drones over the years took pictures and shot videos of inhabited expanses with camps that included buildings and hundreds of vehicles with human activity rivalling Nigeria’s fairly populated cities. The entire global intelligence departments saw these densely populated fossil fuel powered towns in Sambisa holding hundreds of Nigerian prisoners and realized Nigeria was in a mess too big for them to amend without sacking the country’s lying military and civilian ‘leadership.’ In disgust they resigned from helping to “bring back our girls” and did the best they should: denied Jonathan guns Boko Haram confidently relied on.

Was it booby traps or booby towns he meant?

And as we free the hundreds of pregnant, irreversibly abused, violated and abandoned Nigerian women from the cities of Sambisa and kill all the escaping male youth also imprisoned there, not being able to tell which male is ours or forcibly conscripted to theirs after abandoning them so long, we ask Jonathan, Ihejirika, Minimah and Badeh, where are the booby-traps you spoke of when you refused to bring back our girls and denied our brave and determined ex-servicemen, vigilantes, hunters and Civilian-JTF the permission to go into the cities of Sambisa and rescue our Chibok princesses?

Dr. Peregrino Brimah; http://ENDS.ng [Every Nigerian Do Something] Email: drbrimah@ends.ng Twitter: @EveryNigerian

Islamic State Captures Iraq's Ramadi

The Islamic State jihadist group has captured the central Iraqi city of Ramadi in its entirety amid disputed claims from US and local officials, according to Monday’s media reports.

A day earlier in neighboring Syria, US special forces killed a senior ISIL official and captured his wife in a clandestine ground operation. Abu Sayyaf was purported to have been in charge of the group’s illicit oil trade, which is believed to be the extremist group’s main source of revenue.

“The city has fallen,” Muhannad Haimour, Anbar province governor’s spokesman, was quoted by the New York Times.

He added that over 500 civilians and security personnel died in the fight for the provincial capital some 60 miles west of Baghdad.

ISIL claimed late Sunday that it seized Ramadi from Iraq’s security forces, but the US Defense Department that monitors ongoing events was unable to immediately confirm the militant group’s reports.”The situation remains fluid and contested,” the outlet cited Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steven Warren, as saying.

Other reports quoting local officials stated that Iraqi troops were abandoning their positions en masse despite Prime Minister Haider Abadi’s appeals for them to await reinforcement from Shia militias.

Ramadi has been the hotspot of clashes between the militants who seek to establish an Islamic caliphate in territories under its control and the Iraqi forces.

'Twin Peaks' Shooting in Texas Kills Nine, Several Injured

A shooting incident in the southern US state of Texas has led to a number of fatalities, local police said on Sunday.

 

 Police officers from several cities and deputies from the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office were surrounding the Twin Peaks Restaurant, in the Central Texas Market Place after several people were reported shot during a rival motorcycle gang fight, Waco police stated.

“Multiple injuries to include multiple fatalities at Twin Peaks Shooting. Officers were on scene when shooting started. No officers have been injured,” the Waco Police Department said in a statement.

According to local media reports, the armed standoff between biker gang members at a restaurant parking lot led to nine deaths, all of them presumably gang members.

Gang members were shooting at each other and officers at the scene fired their weapons, as well, Swanton said. An earlier Waco PD message advised the public to avoid the Central Texas Market Place area while authorities were investigating the incident.

Sunday afternoon’s deadly shootout reportedly occurred between three rival motorcycle gangs.

Pics: Davido buys a house in the US

Davido  posted a video on Snapchat saying he purchased a house in the U.S, possibly in Atlanta. Bravo! More photographs after bellow

"Yes, I've married another but it is not a replacement" - Gov. Adams Oshiomhole

Talking during his Thanksgiving Mass held in Auchi yesterday Sunday May 17th, Governor Adams Oshiomhole said his new wife is not a model as generally speculated  in the media. He likewise said Iara is not a swap for his late wife, Clara Oshiomhole.

See what he said bellow…

“When I read newspaper stories and they say that Comrade has married a ‘top model’ I’m like maybe it’s another person. The lady that God has directed to my path and heart to marry is not and was not a model. Of course, she looks beautiful and I understand that is why people assume that this kind of a lady must be a model but of course, she is a model in my heart and we hope and pray that we will be models in the heart of our God and I think that is the most important thing”.

“I ask you to please continue to pray for us. It is not easy. I lost my first wife and it is not possible to replace her. Yes, I have married another but it is not a replacement. You cannot replace a wife especially one you married when you were young and you were anonymous. Nobody knew you from anywhere, you had nothing, no car, no house; now, that you can never replace but I understand that under the Catholic doctrine I am entitled to have another wife which is what I am trying to do.”

“Thank you for your prayers, support and blessings that you have always showered on me and the one you conveyed this morning on me and my new wife and we ask for more and more prayers that this marriage will be my last and that God will help us, to unite us and bond us together with the blood of Jesus”

Source: Vanguard

Ini Edo shines rocking bum short on boat cruise

Ini Edo pictured hanging out with friends on a boat cruise today and shared some lovely pics of her adventure on IG.

More photos bellow.

Photos: Popular music producer buys RR for girlfriend

Producer, vocalist and lyricist Spellz of 323 Entertainment purchased a dark color Range Rover for his better half, Dije Badaki. She shared the photograph on instagram and composed.

“Whatever a man does in life if Gods favour is not involved, it will never work. thank you Lord for this, thanks to my baby too. best have ever had #spellz”.

Spellz, whose notable works include Burna Boy’s Don Gorgon and Shaydee’s Chakam, has been spoiling this Kogi state born CEO of Dehadza fashion store, silly.

I was flown out for surgery during campaigns – Mama Peace

Wife of the President,   Patience Jonathan, on Sunday disclosed that she battled with another round of ill-health   during the re-election campaigns of her husband, President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mrs Jonathan, who was flown abroad about two years ago on health grounds, said the latest   was so severe   that she had to be sneaked out of the country to Germany in January for a   major surgery.

She spoke during a farewell service in honour of the Jonathan family at the Aso Villa Chapel.

The President’s wife said before she left the German hospital after the operation, she was billed for another in a bigger hospital immediately after the elections but that God miraculously healed her.

She said after her husband lost his re-election bid, she returned to Germany for the surgery.

According to her, she was about to be taken into the theatre when doctors decided to carry out another round of checks on her.

Like her previous health challenge about two years ago,   Mrs. Jonathan   did not disclose the nature of the last ailment.

She said, “During the   last campaign period, the devil struck   again. I was in pain and was rushed to the hospital in January and the doctors told me, ‘mama, you have to go for a major operation now now.’

“What again? I asked. The campaign was still going on and I wondered how we were going to explain to Nigerians.

“You know that even when you go for medical check-up, they will be writing in newspapers, saying all sorts of things.

“I said my husband will continue with his campaign until the last day. That was how I went in for the first major operation (surgery) in the end of January.

“By God’s grace, I went for the operation (surgery) and came out. On my return from there,   I went straight to the campaign ground.

“They said to me when I was leaving the hospital: ‘mama, there is another bigger operation that you have to go in for again. This one will not be in this hospital. This hospital is too small for the type of operation you need when you come back. You have to go to a bigger hospital.’

“I said ‘ha! while   will you tear   my body again after I had done 12   operations within one month last year?

“I said my God will see me through because he created me for a purpose. I told my prayer partner to continue praying for me. I said to myself that I will never be used   for a sacrifice.

“I was booked for the operation in a bigger hospital and I was asked to go back to Nigeria and return after the campaign. They gave me a date. When I went back, I paid for everything and just when I was   to be taken into the theatre, the doctors   said, ‘let’s check her again.’

“By then, my husband had lost the election. I had packed out of the Villa. Behold! I went to four hospitals again and the thing was said to have vanished. My doctors were surprised; they didn’t believe that that could happen.”

Mrs. Jonathan recalled that many people thought it had ended for her when she went through 12 surgeries about two years ago.

She said although she was “dead,” God sent her back to complete her work.

But the President’s wife added that her husband’s electoral loss was an indication to her that she had completed the work given her by God.

She said, “I thank God for keeping me alive today. God is so wonderful. Just two years ago, I went through operations upon operations. Within one month, I passed through 12 operations.

“Some people said I was dead, yes, I was dead but God resurrected me.

“God told me, ‘my daughter, go back, I will give you a second chance, go and finish your work.’

“And since my husband lost the election, I believe God has made me to finish the work.”

Mrs. Jonathan said she would forever remain thankful to God because many people had prophesied that either her or the President would not leave the Presidential Villa alive.

She recalled that that was what happened in the case of Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who died while her husband was still in office.

She said it was gladdening that she and her husband would be leaving the Villa on May 29 hale and hearty.

Mrs. Jonathan said she would continue to thank God for His mercies because she never dreamt of becoming a wife of a deputy governor much less of a President’s wife.

She   said, “I never thought in my life that I will be First Lady. I never dreamt of being the wife of a deputy governor because my husband was not a politician. But God made it possible and God lifted us up from deputy governorship position and here we are.

“We should be grateful to God for what he has done. To me and my family, we praise God.

“To our followers, today, it might not be too good but I want them to be grateful to God because they have followed us for a long time from deputy governor, governor, Vice President to President.

“You know that no position is for a life- time. There is no permanent thing so I want you to take it in good faith that it is the will of God. You should be praising God. God is really wonderful.”

Mrs. Jonathan disclosed that some unnamed persons had been visiting her since the March 28 presidential election with the hope that they would meet her in a mourning mood.

Thereafter, Mrs. Jonathan danced forward for a special thanksgiving to God for sparing her life throughout their stay in the Villa despite her sickness.

APC disowns ministerial list

The All Progressives Congress on Sunday dismissed as mere fiction, a list of ministers being circulated by some online journalists.

According to the APC, the party has nothing to do with the said list and urged Nigerians to wait for the authentic one which would be made public through the appropriate channels.

This was contained in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja.

Mohammed said, “Nigerians should disregard these lists and await the authentic list which will be communicated through the appropriate channels at the right time.”

The APC also cautioned the media against using statements attributing actions to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, without clarification.

The party urged the media to clarify with the authentic officials of the party and the Buhari Campaign Organisation any issue having to do with the actions of the President-elect, in order to avoid presenting falsehood as facts.

APC said, “The appeal becomes necessary following recent media reports on the actions which the President-elect will purportedly embark upon once he is sworn into office.

“Various people have been quoted in the media on what the President-elect will do or will not do once he assumes office.

“The truth is that these people do not speak for the President-elect, hence the need for the media to clarify such issues with the Chairman of the party, its National Publicity Secretary or the spokesman for the Buhari Campaign Organisation. These officials are always available to clarify issues.”

The party noted that the ongoing transition is a delicate period that fifth columnists could capitalise on to cause disaffection or overheat the polity, hence the need for all stakeholders to be extra-cautious and to put the national interest above all other interests.

Nigeria is broke, Amaechi insists

The Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has again declared that Nigeria is broke and blamed the inability of the state and others to pay workers’ salaries and pensions on the nation’s current poor financial condition.

Amaechi said that the nation’s economic condition could be noticed through the dwindling statutory monthly allocation usually received by the state from the Federal Government.

Speaking during a thanksgiving service organised by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, and his campaign outfit, the Greater Campaign Organisation in Port Harcourt on Sunday, the governor recalled that he was described as an alarmist last year when he cried out over Nigeria’s poor financial state.

Amaechi pointed out that the nation’s economy had continued to fall since he made the statement in December 2014.

“When I said sometime last year that Nigeria’s finances was in a dire strait, some people referred to me as an alarmist. Since I made that statement in December last year, the statutory allocation to the state has continued to decline.

“Now, almost all the states are finding it difficult to pay salaries. The state government owes civil servants their April salaries and pensioners’ four months’ salary arrears because the state does not have the money to pay them,” the governor said.

Amaechi explained that he decided to channel financial resources towards the completion of ongoing projects, which he promised would be completed before the end of his administration on May 29, 2015.

He said, “Some people have chosen to make an issue of the difficulty we are currently experiencing in paying the salaries of civil servants as well as the arrears of our retirees. It is not our making.

“No government will deliberately refuse to pay the salaries of its workers. We will pay as soon as we receive our share of our statutory monthly allocation from the Federal Government.

“It is not easy to joggle the payment of salaries and the implementation of capital projects that are actually geared towards developing the state, creating jobs and improving the economy of the state because more monies go into the society when you award contracts and pay the contractors on time so that they can also pay their workers on time.”

Nigerian Female Student Dreams Of Jim Iyke Marrying Her In Her Dreams

So this exceptionally intriguing dramatization happened on Jim Iyke’s IG page after he posted this photo of himself with Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State. Jim with infectious inscriptions was flaunting how much he respects the governor for his grand accomplishments in his state, just for Jackiffy to ‘interfere’. lol. Wetin Jim do these ladies?

The remark certainly got consideration of Potpourri who chose to search the young lady out. In a BBM talk with her later on, Potpourri discovered that the young lady is a Nigerian teacher in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She goes by the name Ify Jacob.

When she was asked if she had ever had any crush on Jim as many girls do, chiq bluntly replied:

    “That is where the problem is. I never had a crush on him before but all of a sudden I started having dreams that I am married to him for more than three years now. You cannot understand because you are not Jim or a pastor. I don’t like it. It is disturbing to me.”

Jonathan Is Useless, He Betrayed Me and the Entire Niger/Delta - Timipre Sylva

Former Governor of Bayelsa State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Timipre Sylva, in this interview with ADELANI ADEPEGBA of PUNCH, talks about his relationship with the Peoples Democratic Party, President Jonathan and how he betrayed him.

What is your relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha like?

I would say it’s neither here nor there. Sometimes, you think you are very good friends or brothers with some people, but it turns out that you are not really brothers or friends. That’s the way it has always been. I sometimes feel like the biblical Joseph that was sold by his brothers. That’s actually the way I feel sometimes, when I think about the way I was treated by my own people — the people I call my brothers.

You sound betrayed.

Yes, I feel betrayed by them; by President Jonathan especially.

You were removed as a governor. What was your offence and how did it feel?

Till today, I am still trying to know what my offence was. At that time, the party chairman, Abubakar Baraje, now a member of the All Progressives Party like me, said I knew the offence I committed and he apparently didn’t know. It seemed it was only I that knew the offence I committed. I don’t know the offence I committed up till today. In truth, there was no offence — somebody just wanted me out of the way because he was afraid of my rising profile and he decided to move against me. That’s all.

But why would the person be afraid of your rising profile? Did he see you as a threat?

This is politics. It’s about space. When you occupy a certain space and people see that they may not have the kind of headroom within that space for them to be active, they want to get you out of the way, especially, if they have the means of keeping you out of the way. Jonathan was President, he wanted me out of his way and he got me out of his way.

Beyond politics, do you think he had personal issues with you?

I wouldn’t really know, but I would think so because what they did was beyond politics. They didn’t just remove me, they committed moral murder. They almost killed me morally by trying to brand me as a very corrupt person and tried to charge me for corruption. They also went ahead to molest my family and me endlessly. At some point, a lot of people were afraid for my life. That cannot be politics. It must be beyond that. President Jonathan even accused me of wanting to kill him and then I was to be charged for treason. What does that mean? If I was convicted for treason, the punishment would have been death; that means President Jonathan wanted me dead. So at that point, I became very afraid for my life. It could not have been just politics, definitely.

What do you have to say about the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission investigation and prosecution?

Clearly, it was a witch-hunt. If you look at the status of the case today, every accused person has been discharged and acquitted. The Accountant-General of the state has been discharged; the Commissioner of Finance, who was also arraigned with me, has been discharged, leaving only me, because I was the one they wanted. No governor has access to the treasury without the Accountant-General and I am not a signatory to the state account. Therefore, if all the signatories to the account have been discharged, then why am I still being prosecuted? Of course, they wanted me and they know that the charges cannot convict me, so they want to keep the case in court to give the impression that I am being tried for corruption. As soon as my name came up for the very temporary job of transition committee, you saw all kinds of articles: ‘Oh, he is being tried for corruption,’ ‘Why did you give him this kind of position?’ They just want to keep the case alive so that I would never get anything in this country, by their own reckoning.

What is your relationship with the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan like?

I don’t have a relationship with her other than her being my First Lady at the time. There is no relationship. I mean, there is no need for any. On a lighter note, she is a married woman.

Some believe you betrayed the Niger Delta region by working against the region’s foremost son. What’s your reaction to this?

Today, I think a lot of those people think differently. I kept telling them: first, I was forced to do what I was doing. I was forced out of the party. I didn’t have any party to go to, I still have a political career and I needed space to pursue my career. Thus, I moved to the APC. I believed that Gen. (Muhammadu) Buhari was going to do a better job. I actually mentioned it to a lot of my Niger Delta brothers that there is no way we can hinge the future of the whole Niger Delta on the destiny of one person. President Jonathan is from the Niger Delta, but his destiny is not equal to the destiny of the Niger Delta. We still have a life after the Jonathan presidency and we should think about this and caution ourselves. The kind of language that was coming out of the Niger Delta from misguided elements were in bad taste in some cases and I thought we should think about our future within Nigeria beyond the Jonathan presidency and today, that day has come. I think everybody knows that what I did had a lot of merit; some traditional rulers phoned me immediately after the election to thank me for the roles I played. They said but for the roles I played, the Niger Delta and Bayelsa State, especially, would probably have been shut out of this political space completely. A lot of them really think differently now, but it’s unfortunate that many of them were living in the euphoria of having the Presidency. When you even sit down with most of them and ask, ‘what has President Jonathan done for the Niger Delta?’ they can’t tell you anything he has done. It was all sentiment. Of course, I couldn’t be moved by sentiment, apart from what Jonathan did to me personally, if he had developed the Niger Delta, I probably would have been persuaded by his performance. But in a situation where I saw practically nothing in the Niger Delta, I felt there was no need carrying on with that.

    Are you saying Jonathan disappointed the Niger Deltans?

He did, every Niger Deltan knows and a few people have said it and I don’t want to repeat what others have said. Niger Delta is actually in a worse situation today than we have ever been in our history because we have got nothing from this Presidency. Therefore, Niger Delta people, including myself, feel very betrayed.

Photo from Presidential thanksgiving & farewell service organised by Aso Villa Chapel

A special thanksgiving and farewell service was sorted out by Aso Villa house of prayer for President Jonathan and his wife Dame Patience Jonathan today May 17th, 2015.

More photographs.

"I'll soon be disflowered " - Virgin Singer, Adokiye Kyrian

Vulnerably lovely Adokiye Kyrian, peace diplomat, modeler, singer and on-screen character, made a major whine at some point a year ago, when she uncovered to Potpourri that she was still a virgin. Not a major ordeal, but rather in this quick and enraged time where young people need to get high pretty quick and be done with so much in so little time, it is nothing but a big deal.

Potpourri got talking again with Adokiye on Tuesday where she dropped the bomb about losing her virginity soon. Adokiye said:

    “I will let that go soon (meaning her virginity). What’s the point of having all the endowment and not enjoying life as a woman. Plus, people are beginning to call me names, like mumu and all. I have been thinking lately, you know, though my mind is not    made up yet”.

When Potpourri probed further and asked if she truly misses anything as a virgin. She will be 24/25 this year, ‘Kiye continued:
“Yes, I guess I’m human. Don’t get it twisted. Sometimes I feel like I’m missing but each time I want to make that move, I get scared because I know once it’s gone, it’s gone”.

PP suspected this girl must have found a guy she doesn’t want to lose because of sex. so he hit her with the question.

    “They always push” she replied. “Push, push and push. Don’t you know men? Aren’t you a man? Man, I’m so scared. But why not? I came with it I may leave with it”.

When she was told it would be an awful thing to do, afterall God gave it to us to enjoy. She cut PP short and replied,

    “But God didn’t make it compulsory for me to share it with someone. Don’t forget about the Reverend Sisters. You know I’m a staunch Catholic. I was almost going to be one anyways during high school days. I grew up around Reverend Sisters and at some point I told my mum I wanted to become one”

Check out pics From Gov Adams & Iara Oshiomole's Thanksgiving Service

The new first couple of Edo state, Adams & Iara Oshiomole have had an exceptional thanksgiving service to praise their union.

The administration held at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Auchi, Etsako West Local Government Area, Edo state on Sunday 17th of May, 2015.

See the photographs beneath!

HAHA: The Jagaban Sends Buruji A One Way Ticket To The US

You haven’t seen the Delta Air ticket? OK we’ll do you the distinctions: see underneath the one way ticket to the United States of America for senator-elect Buruji Kashamu courtesy APC pioneer Bola Tinubu, Alias the Jagaban.

Obviously its a parody! Duh…

Lara & Adams Oshiomhole Postponed ‘Dubai’ Honeymoon Till After May 29

As per The Punch, the most recent couple in town Adams Oshiomhole and his new wife Lara Fortes may have put off their special honeymoon until after the swearing in of President-elect Muhhamadu Buhari on May 29, 2015. It is believed the new couple will have their vacation in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The Edo state Governor got hitched to Lara on Friday May 15, 2015 at a service witnessed by dignitaries from different sectors of the country….