Texas Executes Female Murderer

Texas Executes Female Murderer

Suzanne Basso, a female murderer convicted for killing her mentally challenged boyfriend, Louis Musso, 59, in 1998 has been put to death in Texas, USA. This makes it the 14th time in the history of the US that a woman would be put to death for any crime.

Basso, 59, was lethally injected with Pentobarbital, a brain and nervous system attacking drug in front of two of her friends. She was declared dead 11 minutes later.

In a bid to inherit his insurance and benefit, she and five others had battered, bleached, and burnt Louis with cigarettes. Then they deposited his body in a ditch outside Houston, Texas. Suzanne was described during the trial as the ring leader in the crime. During her trial, her own daughter described her as a physical and sexual abuser.

Women make up about 2% of condemned US inmates with only 60 out of 3,100 on death row. Nearly 1,400 men have been put to death since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

SSS arrests Dokubo-Asari Dokubo over inciting comments

SSS arrests Dokubo-Asari Dokubo over inciting comments

President of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has been arrested by the men of the Department of State Security, DSS for making inciting comments on the 2015 election.

The former Niger Delta militant was arrested this morning, less than 24 hours after Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, called on security agents to arrest and caution him for repeatedly making inciting comments. He is currently being interrogated by SSS operatives.

Replying to comments made by former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday Feb 4th Asari Dokubo said that he would make Nigeria ungovernable unless Pres. Jonathan wins a second term ticket in the 2015 presidential election. He also asked Northern politicians to stay away

"If they say the blood of the dogs and the baboon will be soaked in water on the street, in blood on the street, in salt water on the street, we will help them soak them in blood”.

Security operatives believe such a comment is capable of causing chaos in Nigeria.

Anti-gay law: Gay Nigerians flood Netherlands embassy seeking asylum

Anti-gay law: Gay Nigerians flood Netherlands embassy seeking asylum

Choi, some Nigerians like to take advantage sha! Lol. The Embassy of the Netherlands in Nigeria has confirmed that it has received some applications for asylum by some Nigerians who fear persecution following the recent signing into law the anti-gay bill by President Jonathan, Thisday reports.

Netherlands is a gay-friendly country. The embassy sent an email to Thisday some days ago saying that despite receiving these applications, it was neither involved in processing any application for asylum seekers nor does it have the power to grant asylum to applicants.

"The embassy has received a small number of applications for asylum by Nigerians. It is not possible to apply for asylum at the embassy. We inform the applicants likewise but we do not register the number of applications made. At this stage, it is not possible to make predictions. That would be speculation. However, when people become increasingly aware that it is not possible to apply for asylum at the embassy, one could expect a decrease. The embassy is not involved in the asylum process, neither in the application nor in the determination of the authenticity of claims.”

Ini Edo plays acid victim in new movie, check out her burnt up face

Ini Edo plays acid victim in new movie, check out her burnt up face

The actress plays an acid attack victim in new movie role and shared pics of the convincing make-up she got on her instagram page today. She wrote: "#filmmakingseriousbusiness# I fear for my face. My exec producer says he's got me covered lol. I still love my job". See another pic after the cut...

The Place pre-Valentine party with Iyanya & other celebs this Friday

Its going to be crazy fun with Iyanya and other Celebrities this Friday Feb 7th at The Place Lekki . They will be hosting Iyanya, Emma Nyra, Tekno and other celebrities. Venue remain Admiralty Way Lekki Phase I. Be there from 10pm.

Adamawa: Jonathan’s visit and 2015 battle

THE recent visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Adamawa State has raised the State’s political temperature, especially with regard to the fate and fortunes of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming 2015 General Elections.   The recent removal from office of the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and the defection of Governor Murtala Nyako to the All Progressives Congress (APC) are posing immensel dangers to the potency of the state PDP in 2015.  Thus, the President’s visit, in which he spent more time on political than state matters, was seen by many as a political medication to re-inject life into the state wing of the PDP, in preparation for the 2015 elections.   President Jonathan was in Yola, the capital city of Adamawa, to commission the Nigerian Airforce Secondary School built by Air Marshall Alexander Badeh, an indigene of the state, who was recently promoted as Chief of Defence Staff.  The President, who arrived at the Yola International Airport one hour behind schedule, was received by Governor Murtala Nyako.  Jonathan, accompanied by Air Marshall Badeh, Tukur, Service Chiefs and top PDP chieftains in the state, spent about one hour at the venue of the commissioning.   Driven in the same car with Governor Nyako, the President proceeded to the Palace of the Lamido of Adamawa, Dr. Alyiu Mustafa Barkindo, for royal homage.  Thereafter, the convoy moved to the Lelewa Hotel located opposite the Adamawa State Polytechnic, near the state PDP office, Yola, venue of the party’s stakeholders meeting.   When the President got to the venue, Governor Nyako alighted from the car and bid him farewell, while the Deputy Governor, Mr. Bala Ngillari, who is now the leader of the PDP in Adamawa, took over proceedings at the stakeholders’ meeting.  The meeting, which started at about 1.00pm, lasted till after 3.00pm, had in attendance PDP chieftains, including Tukur, Senator Jibril Aminu, and Senator Bello Tukur, the only serving senator from the state in the party.   Other party leaders were The Minister of Women Affairs,Hajia Zainab Maina; former Minister for Health, Dr Idi Hong; and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Guluk.  The Guardian learnt that the President told the party leaders that the crises in the PDP were not enough reason for five governors on the platform of the PDP to defect to the APC.  “May be their defection was an act of God; it can turn out to be for the good of the party,” he was quoted by a chieftain that participated in the meeting.  Mr. Justin Kalakala, the president of PDP Youths for Adamawa Southern senatorial zone, also confirmed that Jonathan assured members of the party not to panic over the crises, saying that the PDP would become stronger after the storm.   According to Kalakala, the President re-affirmed his total commitment to rebuilding the PDP as a party that could defend the norms and values of democracy in the country.  He said the President also appealed to members of the PDP in the state to remain focused and united, to ensure victory during the 2015 polls.  Subsequently, the state chairman of the PDP, Mr. Joel Madaki, Senator Aminu, Deputy Governor Ngillari and other speakers at the meeting endorsed the President as the party’s candidate for the 2015 presidential election.  Madaki and Ngillari assured the President that the people of Adamawa State were behind his transformation agenda and would continue to support him to achieve his desire to transform the country.  The President reportedly concluded the meeting by ushering in two National Assembly members that decamped from the APC to the PDP in the state. They are Mr. Haske Francis Hananiya, representing Gombi/Hong federal constituency and Mr. Emmanuel T. Ganama, representing Michika/Madagali federal constituency.  According to Mallam Shehu Umar, a PDP top shot in Mayo-Belwa, the home town of Governor Nyako, Jonathan’s visit was not only to solicit support for his re-election ambition, but also to repackage Adamawa PDP for the political battle in 2015.   He maintained that the visit was purely designed to create an opportunity for the President to interact with members of the PDP in the State and discuss problems confronting party.  Umar noted that the visit has not only restored hope in members of the party in the state, but that it has also confirmed that Jonathan would not only contest the 2015 presidential poll, “but he is well prepared to win the race.”  He disclosed that the President “assured the Adamawa PDP of his full support to ensure that the party wins all the elections in the state come 2015.”  Former PDP governorship aspirant during the 2012 election in Adamawa, Dr. Umar Ardo, said the visit of the President was to stamp the party’s authority in the state and also to confirm the legitimacy of the state PDP executive, led by Mr. Joel Madaki.  “The President’s visit has proven otherwise to those that think the PDP, without Governor Murtala Nyako, who was a liability to the party, cannot stand or get the kind of support that the people of the state witnessed on when the President arrived in the state capital,” Ardo said.  “It is now clear to even a blind man that there is no vacancy for any other political party in Adamawa; PDP is the landlord for now.”  Ardo recalled that a day before the coming of Mr. President, the state capital was adorned with APC posters and billboards, but that the following day, “all the posters and billboards disappeared. It was like magic; the posters of the President (and those of Dr. Ardo) painted the state capital.”  He said the stakeholders’ endorsement of President Jonathan for the 2015 polls was to show that, “the state wing of the PDP supports Mr. President, considering his development programmes within the short time of his administration.”  “Our votes in Adamawa are intact for Mr. President, as our people are wise, considering what happened to them in the past, when party leaders misled them for selfish interest,” he said.  On the alleged statement by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that he would not contest for the Presidency in 2015, Ardo said that if that happened, “there would be political danger if he (Atiku) did support Jonathan.”  “Atiku is a force in Nigerian politics; so, if he is not contesting and he is not supporting Mr. President, it means we in PDP will face serious political danger, considering his wealth, political experience and acceptability across the country,” he said, adding, “he will pose serious danger to any candidate that he opposes during the poll.”  Ardo advised that for political comfort, the national leadership of the party should work hard to bring Atiku back to the Jonathan camp, “to avoid a tough election battle in 2015.”  In truth, the Adamawa PDP is almost facing political extinction owing to its poor financial status and a leadership that is yet to establish itself on ground following the crisis that greeted its emergence.  The major financier of Adamawa PDP was former Vice President Abubakar, who is presumed to be the leader of the rebel group in the party.   Without Atiku, according to political analysts, the party “will be going to the battlefield without arms and ammunition to confront its enemies.”  The state political appointees and majority of the elected members on the platform of the PDP had abandoned it, and shown no practical commitment to a party that helped them to achieve their political ambitions.  This would constitute a thick roadblock to the victory of the party in the state if the President does not follow up with practical actions after his visit to rescue the PDP from the claws of chieftains of the opposition APC, who appear battle-ready to crush the party in the 2015 polls.  The Guardian investigations reveal that the only PDP chieftain in the state, who since 1999 has remained a loyal member without defecting to another political party, is Dr. Umar Ardo.   According to sources, “he has spent his family funds to sustain the party, especially now that Atiku has withdrawn his financial assistance to the party in the state.”  Ardo was instrumental to the dissolution of the Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama-led state PDP executive, which was loyal to Governor Nyako.   It was his petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that compelled the national leadership of the party to sack the Kugama executive in line with the letter of INEC to the party.  He is still at the Supreme Court, challenging the legality of Nyako’s emergence as the winner of the PDP primary election in the 2012 governorship election.  The President visit proved Ardo’s standing in the party, as the stakeholders nominated him to address members of the PDP before the arrival of President Jonathan.  Besides, it was only Ardo’s posters and billboards that were placed side by side Jonathan’s posters and billboards, welcoming the President to the state

.

. CBN is inconsistent, selective, says NNPC boss

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, has alleged that the outstanding unremitted amount due to the federation account from the sale of crude oil by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is $20bn and not $10.8bn. Sanusi stated this at the resumed public investigation on the alleged unremitted $49.8bn crude oil revenue yesterday by the Senate Committee on Finance at the National Assembly.

Sanusi alleged that out of the $67bn crude oil sold by the NNPC, only $47bn had been receipted by the CBN, leaving a balance of $20bn. Sanusi had last year written a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing NNPC of failure to account for $49.8bn accruing from unremitted amount from the sale of crude oil.

This prompted the President to direct all the stakeholders to have a joint meeting to reconcile the amount in question. At the end of the exercise, it was agreed by the parties, which included the Finance Ministry, CBN, NNPC, the Budget Office, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Directorate of Petroleum Resources DPR, and Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, that the outstanding amount was $10.8bn.

Sanusi’s fresh allegation came as the NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, faulted the governor’s claims, stressing that the CBN as bankers did not understand the petroleum auditing processes. Yakubu also accused Sanusi of bandying the entire gross earnings of NNPC instead of actual net earnings.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, expressed indifference to the allegations raised by Sanusi. According to Makarfi, what Sanusi said was not a fresh issue, as it was already known to the committee and the reconciliation team set up on the matter.

He directed the various teams handling the reconciliation of the said unremitted accounts to fast-track their activities and come up with the exact amount by Thursday next week, when the public hearing would reconvene.

Sanusi said: “I have a 20 page presentation with 30 appendages but we have to first of all agree on what has been paid into the CBN. NNPC did a presentation. We have all agreed earlier that $14bn out of the $67bn they shipped came in to the dollar account of the federation.

“We have looked at FIRS numbers and we have confirmed that $16bn paid by international oil companies to the FIRS account was not paid by the NNPC but paid by IOCs. It was the proceeds of crude lifted in the name of NNPC but sold on behalf of FIRS.

“That $16bn had been confirmed by FIRS and had accepted. There is $1.6bn that DPR also received from IOCs, which was part of that crude and which CBN had accepted. We have provided evidence in the naira crude account out of the $28bn domestic crude shipped by the NNPC, it had repatriated $16bn.

“Out of the $67bn that has accrued to the NNPC account we have accounted for $47bn. Out of the $67bn that the NNPC shipped, $47bn had been repatriated to the CBN. What we are talking about is the balance of $20bn and what explanations had been given.”

Responding to the allegations raised by Sanusi, the NNPC boss said: “The issues that were raised are not new at all. You see we came out in details because we don’t have anything to hide and we gave a detailed breakdown of the so called $49bn and we came out clearly to state the various streams that are associated with what he was talking about.

“Now, we also made it clear that NPDC (National Petroleum Development Company), if we had anything to hide we would not have made it clear that NPDC was part of the stream, because NPDC which is NNPC’s upstream operation, is a limited liability company registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA, to do upstream business just like any other independent company.

“Now, if you are in your business, will you take your gross revenue and pass it on? What we simply said was to account for the streams that the CBN Governor erroneously captured.

Now let me make this point very clearly; CBN is a banking outfit, so I really, really understand why they will not understand some petroleum engineering issues and they are not also an auditing outfit.

“Now what they try to do is to audit and I heard some statements made here that they do not have this document, they don’t have that document. They are not the auditors.

We have certified bodies and arms of agencies that are charged with the responsibility of auditing. They are banking right? So what he (Sanusi) said was not really new.

We said clearly that we stated an amount that went to NPDC and that amount was the gross lifting. But there are other streams that go back to government in terms of taxes just like any other business player. “So we have Royalties, we have Petroleum Profit Tax and so on and so forth.

Now these are subjects of other detailed discussions and investigations and they are open. We give access to the Auditor General of the Federation, we give access to Accountant-General, we give access to agencies that have business to do with auditing our own business.

And at the Federation Account too, we render this report as you are told on monthly basis and these are issues that are subject of reconciliation on monthly basis.

“So really for issues like this to come to the public glare again becomes worrisome that we throw away numbers, we throw away allegations that at the end of the day we clarify but then the damage would have been done.”

The NNPC had said previously that no funds were missing and that the $10.8bn allegedly unaccounted for had been used to fund operations include subsidy deductions and pipeline maintenance and repairs. The NNPC in a statement issued late yesterday accused the CBN of inconsistency and being selective of the figures on which it based its calculations.

“We are concerned by the dynamics of the moving numbers as the Central Bank’s figures keep changing. This is a worrying trend coming from an Agency of Government charged with managing the financial affairs of Nigeria”, the statement said.

It added; “While NNPC and other relevant government agencies are in the process of reconciling the $10.8bn as accepted by all parties, we are surprised by the new $20bn figure introduced by the CBN. According to CBN the $20bn is made up of $12bn subsidy claim, $6bn NPDC gross revenue and $2bn third party revenue. It is worthy to note that the CBN accepted NNPC submission with respect to $16bn royalty and PPT payments into the federation Account through the FIRS.

This indicates that the CBN cherry picks the figures.” The NNPC said that for example, in taking the entire $6bn gross revenue accruable to NPDC and allocating same to the federation account, CBN simply multiplied the gross production by the crude oil price; thereby failing to account for the operating costs (opex) and amortized capital expenditure that underpin the production.

“In other words, the CBN failed to take into account the cost of production.” “We reiterate that NPDC has been remitting the royalty and petroleum Profit Tax, PPT to the Federation Account. NPDC as a subsidiary of NNPC operates a business model similar to other international companies in Nigeria and abroad and will continue to be governed by these global best practices in the execution of these assets.

“Regarding the subsidy claim on kerosene, it is important to note that NNPC as the supplier of last resort is the only company supplying this product in Nigeria for the benefit of the citizenry. If kerosene has been deregulated why are the independent marketers not supplying this product in line with what is applicable to diesel (AGO).

“NNPC owes a duty to Nigerians to ensure that there are adequate products in the country.

This mandate has without question been accomplished in the past four years. NNPC deserves to be commended rather than battered, for ensuring adequate supply of kerosene at regulated price of N50.00k. NNPC cannot be held responsible for any differential pricing from non NNPC retailers

. This is the basis for NNPC’s claim on kerosene subsidy.”

2015: We’ll make Nigeria ungovernable –Militants

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…ask northerners to steer clear of presidency

The leader of the outlawed Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujaheeden Asari-Dokubo, yesterday reiterated that his kinsmen in the oil-rich belt would foment trouble if President Goodluck Jonathan failed to secure a second term ticket in the 2015 presidential election Asari-Dokubo, in an interview with National Mirror, insisted that the people of the Niger Delta would make the country ungovernable if President Jonathan was not re-elected.

He also advised northerners not to seek election into the presidency on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the main opposition political group, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The militants’ leader, however, asked the APC to field a presidential candidate from the South-South to challenge Jonathan in the election. Asari-Dokubo said the people of the Niger Delta would not accept defeat of Jonathan in a free and fair contest, adding that the President must be allowed to rule for eight years.

He said: “If it is war the North wants, we are ready for them because Jonathan must complete the mandatory constitutionally allowable two terms of eight years. “At home, we have regrouped and we have put our people at alert.

In less than one hour, the way we would strike, the world will be shocked. “If anybody does anything against Jonathan, we will retaliate. What we will do will shock the whole world. We will cripple the economy of the country not only in the creeks, but also on the nation’s territorial waters, no vessel will be allowed to enter Nigeria’s territorial waters.

“Let them not try anything. If they abuse Jonathan, there is no problem, he is their President but anything that will affect the interest of the Ijaw people and the interest of the entire people of the Niger Delta will be resisted at any cost.” Asari-Dokubo also vowed that the defeat of Jonathan in a free and fair election would trigger crisis. He said: “Jonathan cannot be defeated, they cannot defeat him, they don’t have the right, every part of the country must have equal stake in the presidency of the country.

“Let them go and sleep in their houses. If they don’t, they are looking for trouble and we are going to give it to them. “It will make better sense if APC picks its presidential candidate from the South- South. With that, there will be no battle for us to fight and it will make it easier for us. Whichever way it goes, it will enable us to continue our right of uninterrupted rule of eight years, which is the minimum constitutional requirement.

“They cannot take that from the South-South and we will not accept it because every part of the country must have equal access to the various institutions of government, especially at the federal level,” he added.

Asari-Dokubo also replied a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and Interim Deputy National Secretary of APC, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who recently described him as a thug. He said that the former minister “is a political hustler who joined the opposition following his failure to secure patronage from Jonathan.”

Asari-Dokubo said that el-Rufai lobbied Jonathan through the Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, to secure appointment as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and later as running mate to Jonathan in the 2011 presidential election.

He said that el-Rufai best fitted the classification of a thug, adding that the former minister did not add value to governance despite his “so-called first class degree from Harvard.” “What does he (el-Rufai) do as a political hustler apart from eating government’s money? What value has he added to the society with his education?

What has he contributed to the society other than stealing and looting? “When Jonathan brought him back to the country, he lobbied through Chief Edwin Clark to become SGF and later running-mate to Jonathan, he was wearing uniforms at Pa Clark’s place during the birthday of the elder statesman but he did not get anything from the government.

“When he found out that things are not working, he ran back to the opposition. It is sad that el-Rufai does not even know the meaning of a thug; he is the best description of a thug. El-Rufai is a thug because he strangulated the economy of the country. “Here is somebody who sold government’s prime assets in Lagos and elsewhere.

Where is NITEL and other nation’s strategic assets? They sold them to themselves and their cronies. These people are shameless,” he added. Asari-Dokubo had previously described Jonathan as a disappointment to the Ijaw ethnic nationality and the South-South in general for his perceived failings to in handling the crisis in the PDP by taming dissidents. He had said: “Jonathan is disgracing the Ijaw people and people of the South- South by negotiating with these dissidents. I am terribly annoyed by the way he is handling this issue, he is a disgrace.

If he cannot withstand them he should tell us because there is no basis for negotiation. “This is the time for Jonathan to act like an Ijaw man and he should stop disgracing us, he said in statements made by him in September last year.

The ex-militant leader, who is believed to have benefited from political patronage especially pipeline security contracts from the Presidency, had also claimed in July 2013 that the president had alienated his support base.

He had said: “I am ready and willing to help him in 2015 but there is something wrong with him (Jonathan), he has been hijacked by some people and he is not doing anything to remove them. Jonathan is not on course at all. Jonathan is destroying his presidency”.

“For instance, he got to power majorly by the support of the social media that is the vehicle in which he was brought to power but as I am talking to you today, he has lost all his Facebook fans.

He (Jonathan) is going down every day.” “How can he (Jonathan) deliver when everybody around him are sabotaging him? The people around Jonathan are vicious but somebody like me will not keep quiet to allow Jonathan to lead us to avoidable bloodshed.”