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Who will be promoted & who will join Bode George ? Who is your favourite mallam ?


Former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday told a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, that it lacked the power to try him over allegations of abuse of office as minister. He said that the proper court to try him was the Abuja High Court.

Counsel to the former minister, Akin Olujimi, filed a preliminary objection saying that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Matters Commission (ICPC) Act of 2000, which his client had been charged on, had been repealed and so the federal court lacked the jurisdiction to try the matter. “The prosecution acknowledges that the charges stand on nothing,” said Mr Olujimi. “The effect of a repealed law is that it is a nullity, and no charges founded on it can stand.”

In response to the preliminary objection, the prosecution said that the court could assume jurisdiction in the matter because it involved an agency of the federal government and a former minister in the federal cabinet. Trial Judge, Adamu Bello, adjourned ruling on the case to 13th October.

Mr. El-Rufai and two others were accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of illegally allocating land in the FCT to friends and relatives, some of whom included Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, the daughter of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. The other accused persons are Altine Jubrin, former director general of the Abuja Geographical Information System, and Ismail Iro, former general manager of the agency. All three men pleaded not guilty.


AC Ribadu & Oshiomole ticket : as Asiwaju Tinubu Drops Vice Presidential Ambition

If he had held Fash close to his breast who knows as Alamiyesegha is reaping the rewards of patient GodFatherhood


Bola Ahmed Tinubu is no longer interested in the vice presidential race and is, instead, strategising on how the Action Congress (AC) would team up with another party to claim the presidency as well as win all the South Western States, Sunday Independent can reveal.

It also emerged that AC may have concluded plan to field the former anti-graft czar, Nuhu Ribadu as its presidential candidate, with Edo Governor and former Labour leader, Adams Oshiomhole, as his running mate.

That appears to be a fantastic political masterstroke, designed to woo the disenchanted Northerners who appeared certain to lose the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential ticket to President Goodluck Jonathan and draw the organised Labour and younger elements who see Ribadu and Oshiomhole as emerging leaders they could count on.


Tinubu, former Lagos Governor and AC foremost financier, has long been rumoured to be in alliance talk with Muhammadu Buhari to float a joint presidential ticket, a very risky arrangement that would have repeated the Social Democratic Party (SDP)’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 1993 presidential ballot.

Late Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe were Muslims, but the ticket won a landside across the country widely split along ethno-religious lines.

Tinubu’s rumoured VP ambition has seen him criss-cross the length and breadth of Nigeria in the last two years to build bridges as he consulted with top opposition leaders and political parties, including the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

He is said to have resolved to sit back and map out strategies for the AC to regain all its lost states in the Yoruba-speaking South West geopolitical zone as a bargaining chip for the party in its merger talks with other political parties in the country.

This agenda is believed to enjoy the backing of the five former governors of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) with whom he had been involved in series of mobilisation for the new party to be consummated from the years of consultations.

He was also said to have revealed the new move to his political associates and groups in the South West and across Nigeria in the last one month, a decision believed to be behind the lull and change of strategy in the political consultations among the opposition parties.

Sources close to the godfather of Lagos politics said he backs the decision by AC to support a younger element from the North with a running mate from the oil-bearing South South geo political zone, a deft move to dwarf the influence of Jonathan whose support base political scientists say is weak.

Tinubu and AC favour the candidature of Ribadu and Oshiomhole, two fellows whose support bases they believe could jolt the PDP in the ballot, sources said.


The choice of Ribadu over some other young Northerners like former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nasir El Rufai, is said to have been informed by the high profile and public sympathy over his performance in the anti-corruption crusade, regardless of his romance with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and allegations that the latter used him to hound adversaries.

The choice of Oshiomhole as a running mate, sources added, flow from his coming from the same region as Jonathan and his wide appeal among Nigerians who relished his presidency of workers’ movement, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

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KSA drops new juju classic on Mike Adenuga

KSA drops new juju classic on Mike Adenuga

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Juju music maestro, King Sunny Ade, in his latest album has shown why lovers of his style of music may never grow tired of any musical work from him. His latest, Ayo Owuro (Morning Joy), is another classic from the master crooner himself.


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In the fourth track of the newly released album which is dedicated to the quintessential African businessman, Dr Mike Adenuga Jr., KSA�s rendition of the track sets him apart as the master of what Yoruba music lovers call alujo (dancehall).

It is an irresistible musical peace as anyone who listens to it will take to the dancing floor in appreciation of the beauty of the song.

KSA describes Adenuga as Giwa ti n se ile, Giwa ti n s�oko (the leader who is excellent in all areas) adding that he has been exceedingly successful because ko te lowo onile, ko baje lowo alejo (he is loved by everyone).

Elsewhere, he sings of the sterling qualities which are not usually possessed by many businessmen. These include aje (acumen), owo (money), ola (wealth) and iyi (influence).

It needs no restating that Dr. Adenuga possesses all of these in plenteous measure. The legendary generousity of Adenuga is also not lost on KSA.

True to his electrifying style of Juju, King Sunny Ade made excellent use of electric guitars and synthesisers while achieving such a perfect synchronisation with his vocalists that the voices seem to merge into a single, sonorous rendition, a seamless appraisal of the subject in focus.

The vocal styles often impose deep cultural influences, a medley of the old and the modern, all blending to produce a masterpiece which will be unrivalled for some time to come.

Equally a master of recalling ancestral and contemporary panegyrics of Dr. Adenuga, KSA reeled out the genealogical praise of the Oke Sopen descendants of Ijebu Igbo, in Ogun State, where the business mogul hails from.

It is noteworthy, however, that the track is fast-paced enough to appeal to young audiences while it also possesses mature and meaningful content to excite the old but culturally appreciative adults who would be happy to enjoy family praise songs.
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The cabinet must stop lying to Nigerians about President Yar’Adua’s illness and face up to the reality that he is no longer able to perform his duties, information minister Dora Akunyili bluntly admonished fellow ministers yesterday. At the regular weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation, Mrs Akunyili stunned her colleagues by presenting a memo in which she challenged them to tell Nigerians the truth about the president’s health and stop deceiving the people. The Council had, at its meeting last week, reiterated its position that Mr. Yar’Adua, who has been away in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment in the last 73 days, was still capable of leading the country. The ministers also said the president did not have to write a letter to the National Assembly empowering his deputy, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to act on his behalf. Mrs. Akunyili, however, ensured that yesterday’s meeting did not follow the usual bland form when she submitted a memo to the council asking members to face up to the incapacitation of the ailing president and seek the right means to transfer power to Mr. Jonathan in the interest of the nation.
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