PHOTO: The Audus in Good Tmes

Aisha, the estranged wife of former governor of Kogi State, Abubabakar Audu has lost her bid to retain a property at 12301 Glen Road, Potomac, Maryland, United States of America.

Aisha was the first lady of Kogi State when Audu was the governor.

A Circuit Court in Montgomery County, Mary-land, United States held that Gold Window, LLC, a company in which Audu is believed to have interest was the rightful owner of the property in dispute.

A copy of the judgment which was delivered on 18th November, 2010 was obtained by our correspondent.

The court held thus, "The plaintiff (Gold Window, LLC) is the lawful title owner of the real property located at 12301 Glen Road, Potomac, Maryland 20854 and is entitled to immediate possession of said property."

The court further held that Aisha Audu (the defendant) was wrongfully in possession of the property.

"The defendant, and any of her guests, agents or anyone else acting in her behest, shall not remove, damage, alter, destroy or diminish any furnishings, appliances, rugs, vehicles, or other property from the home or grounds of the aforementioned real property," the court further ordered.

Audu, and his wife, Aisha, are currently entangled in a legal tussle in United States over allegations of domestic violence.

Aisha had approached the court for a final protective order and also filed a divorce suit.

Tempers rose on the floor of the Senate yesterday as senators after senators stood up in vehement condemnation of the statements credited to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga that federal lawmakers are crippling the country's economy with their outrageous pay packets.

The senators likened what they considered an attack on the federal legislature by members of the Executive arm of government to treason and “an attempt to arrest democracy”.

Sanusi had alleged last weekend that 25 per cent of the nation's total recurrent expenditure is spent on the lawmakers' upkeep, while Aganga was reported to have said on Monday that the Federal Government was considering slashing the National Assembly vote.

At the end of the heated debate which was the only business undertaken by the senators having stood down other items on the order paper, the Senate resolved to summon the minister and the CBN governor to appear before four of its committees today to clarify their statements on outrageous budget allocations to the National Assembly.

Also irked by the statements, the House of Representatives has formally summoned Aganga and Sanusi to appear before it.
The two principal managers of the national economy are expected to appear before the House in plenary to confirm the veracity of their claims that the National Assembly gulps 25 per cent of the recurrent expenditure of the country.

Meanwhile, official figures released by the Federal Government showed that its total recurrent spending this year has risen above N2 trillion.

It also emerged that only about N351.59 billion out of the N749.74 billion cashed back for projects included in the 2010 budget has been utilized by ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs).

Also to appear along with the duo before the Senate committees is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mrs. Amina Azubair, who is expected to put the records straight about the award of MDG projects, which the senators said had been erroneously placed on the shoulders of the lawmakers.

Contributing to a motion on urgent public importance raised by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross River), majority of the senators described the statements made by the two officials as a deliberate distortion of facts to bring the National Assembly into disrepute.

While the senators were unanimous on the need to summon the federal officials, there was, however, a division on whether they should appear before the relevant standing committees, those on Appropriation, Banking, Finance and MDGs, or before the plenary.

Presenting the motion, Ndoma-Egba noted that the allegation credited to the CBN governor that the National Assembly gulps 25 per cent of the national budget was false and misleading.
He said it was a calculated attempt to bring the National Assembly to disrepute.

Senator Bode Olajumoke, in his contribution, lamented that the false information published in the Nigerian media was always relayed and reviewed by international media, saying this had gone a long way to damage the integrity of members of the National Assembly, portraying them as “rogues”.

In his contribution, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu blamed the misinformation on ignorance on the part of those who should be aware of the facts.

Senator Patrick Osakwe (PDP, Delta) described the allegation as an issue of “calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it”.
He said Sanusi and Aganga should appear before the Senate to state the sources of their information, adding that the Senate and the National Assembly should no longer take such false allegations lightly in the future.

Senator Dahiru Umar informed his colleagues that the presentation of the news on BBC Hausa Service was severe and damaging, as some commentators called for the military to sack members of the National Assembly.
On his part, Senator Anthony Manzo said the Senate should not hesitate to sack the CBN governor if there were reasons to do so, since it has power to do so with two-thirds majority.

According to him, a situation where those who were screened and approved by the Senate were always turning round to attack it should no longer be tolerated.

Senate Spokesman, Senator Ayogu Eze, said the repeated publication of falsehood against the National Assembly was becoming embarrassing to the families of lawmakers.
He said the allegation amounted to treason, as it was calculated to bring down the National Assembly, which is the symbol of democracy...

Senate President David Mark said no lawmaker was involved in contract awards, stressing that the continued attack on members of the National Assembly would no longer be acceptable.
He said: “We have said this over and over, and yet they still keep repeating it. Once they hear it, they jump at it. I think we need to invite them to explain to us on live television.”

Chairman, House Committee on Air Force, Hon. John Halims Agoda, paved the way for the decision to summon Aganga and Sanusi when he moved a motion expressing concern that the utterances of Sanusi had denigrated the National Assembly and brought the lawmakers to ridicule in the minds of the public.

Agoda said the allegations made by the CBN governor could not be substantiated both on the grounds of budgetary facts and moral inclinations of the National Assembly towards the total regeneration of the Nigerian society.

He argued that the utterances could not be swept under the carpet considering the weight of the allegations and the damage they portend for the institutional image of the National Assembly.

According to Agoda, “there are grave implications for the electoral values of members who have now been cast in the image of rapacious financial scavengers of the national treasury.”
The motion was unanimously adopted with several lawmakers initially demanding the resignation of the CBN governor, while the moderates among them said they should be invited to enable the House to do a forensic analysis of their allegations.

The House resolved among other things to henceforth scrutinise the budgets of about 31 MDAs including the CBN to ensure that there were no leakages.
The N4.6 trillion 2010 budget has a capital vote of N1.7 trillion or 30 per cent of the appropriation.
The record, however, showed a sharp rise in personnel cost from N966.742 billion in 2009 to N1.1 trillion in September 2010, while overhead was estimated at N633.128 billion in 2010.

Inspection fees gulped N45.141 billion, while external debt was put at $0.462 billion by September 2010.
The 2010 utilization rate of 46.9 per cent is considered unimpressive by experts when compared to the N913.36 billion put forward in last fiscal regime.

The Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwaabo, told journalists at the 2009/2010 score card on the activities of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) briefing in Abuja yesterday that the low utilisation might have been caused by delays in the release of the funds to the MDAs.

He said he was hopeful that the capital budget performance would show remarkable improvements before the end of the year.
He also tied the low utilisation to the political crisis occasioned by the poor health of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The accountant-general also disclosed that the total statutory disbursement to the federal, state and local governments between 2009 and September 2010 stood at over N5.5 trillion.

This, he said, was in addition to Value Added Tax (VAT) of about N865.09 billion distributed in the period under review.
He said: “The sum of N1.19 trillion was cash backed in year 2009 of which N913.26 billion or 76.6 per cent was utilized. For 2010, the sum of N749.74 billion was cash backed of which N351.59 billion was utilized as at 30th October 2010. This translates to a capital performance of 46.9 per cent.”

He said statutory allocation amounting to N2.7 trillion had so far been released between January and September 2010.
“This year is a special one in the sense that we encountered some challenges. We had a new president; the Federal Executive Council was reconstituted. But it is not too bad that we have that type of utilization rate considering the political challenges that we had,” he said.

Nigeria currently occupies the number three position in the worldwide cybercrime trends index, Nigeria’s anti-graft boss said yesterday...

Speaking on the first day of the 1st West African cybercrime summit in Abuja, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Farida Waziri, said that Nigeria comes third behind US and UK.

At the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, where an elite group of anti-graft agencies, diplomats, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies gathered, the central theme was how to fight the rising cybercrime rate in Nigeria and West Africa.

As pointed out by the EFCC boss, cybercrime is spreading from Nigeria into the surrounding West African countries.

“We have noticed a gradual movement of cyber criminals from Nigeria to neighbouring West African States,” she said, adding that four African countries - two in West Africa, fall into the top 10 cybercrime trends index.

“What should be frightening for us is that only about 20% of the West African population has access to Internet connectivity, and it may well mean that if we have the level of connectivity of Europe and North America, we will perpetually remain in the top 10,” she said..

Archaic Laws

The Chair, Senate committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes, and Anti-Corruption, Sola Akinyede, further expressed fears that Nigerian laws are not adaptable to current trends in crime fighting, adding that this has negatively affected the performance of the EFCC.

“The Nigerian Evidence Act is both archaic and out of sync. The Nigerian Evidence Act does not recognise the existence of computers. The credit cards, I understand, operate by magnetic impulse. The data on the credit card are not recognised under the Nigerian evidence law.

“I was trying to remember how to tender evidence with respect to photographs in court. There was one word I was trying to remember. That word is negatives. It’s a long time since I used that word, but under the Nigerian law today, if you want to tender a photograph, you have to tender the negatives. In the world of digital photography, there is nothing like negatives,” Mr. Akinyede said.

He, however, said that he had sponsored a bill at the National Assembly to amend the Nigerian Evidence Act, which has gone through the second reading.

“Unfortunately, because of the imminent elections and the consequent constitution amendments that are required, most ammendments with the National Assembly have been kept in the back burner.

“The primary focus and interest of the National Assembly is the electoral act and the constitution amendment. I, therefore, hope that as soon as we finish the constitution ammendments, the National Assembly will pass the law,” he said.

Working with Microsoft

Emmanuel Onyeje, the general manager of Microsoft Anglophone West Africa, reiterated the commitment of the American ICT company to network with the EFCC and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to fight the cybercrime menace in Nigeria and West Africa.

“Cybercrime is not about me or anyone in Nigeria. Everyone is affected. Everyone is vulnerable. Fighting cybercrime is one of the few things that I believe can unite mankind. So, it is something that we must all come together to solve,” he said.

Mr. Onyeje also said that Microsoft will lead the fight against cybercrime, especially by creating awareness of the menace.

Residents of Otto-Ilogbo Community, in the Ebute Metta area of Lagos are alarmed by the murder of a pregnant woman in their area.

This follows the revelation by a 23-year-old lady, identified as Grace Orobo, that she connived with her boyfriend, one Okechukwu Eze, 28, to bury a pregnant woman in a swamp in the community. The victim, Glory Goodnews, from Oron in Akwa Ibom State, was living with her boyfriend, Mr Eze, a loader with one of the transportation companies at Ejigbo, a suburb of the city, for close to three years at Otto Ilogbo slum, when she suddenly disappeared in January. According to one of Ms Goodnew’s relatives, David Sambo Udoh, the victim confided in him that she was pregnant but her boyfriend, Mr Eze, told her to abort the pregnancy.

And the news came

According to residents, the victim disappeared from sight around January this year. News that she was allegedly murdered came out when Mr Eze’s new girlfriend, Ms Orobo, on Sunday, revealed to the victim’s relatives that she connived with Mr Eze to murder Ms Goodnews and later buried her in a swamp in the community, following her refusal to abort the pregnancy.

“Glory is from Akwa Ibom and I am from Akwa Ibom,” said Mr Udoh. “She comes from the same village my wife came from, Oron; so she is well known to us. She was living in an hotel at Orile, but Okechukwu brought her from the hotel to come and live with him at Otto Ilogbo. They have been living together for like three years now. Around January this year, Glory came to tell us that she was pregnant but her boyfriend, Okechukwu, said she will not use pregnancy to trap him to marry her because Okechukwu was also dating another girl called, Orobo. After a while, we did not see Glory again and I personally went to ask Okechukwu where Glory is, but he said he had sent her to his village in Anambra State to go and give birth there. Every time I see Okechukwu, I will ask him to give me Glory’s number so I can call her but he will give me fake numbers that will never reach her.

“When it was like nine months, and I knew she would have given birth, I asked Okechukwu again, but he told me that Glory gave birth to a boy and she will be coming to Lagos soon. But on Sunday, Orobo, Okechukwu’s other girlfriend came to our room and she was holding Glory’s picture. She told us that she want to reveal the secret; that Okechukwu has buried Glory with her pregnancy in the canal at Otto because Glory refused to abort the pregnancy. I went to meet Okechukwu but he was not around. Later in the night, around 10pm that Sunday, 28th of November, I saw Okechukwu coming back home and I held his shirt that he had killed Glory and buried her in the swamp. Okechukwu just keep saying ‘Please, I will tell you everything; I will tell you everything’. He said Glory was sick and she died in his hands so he did not want to alert anybody, that was why himself and his girlfriend, Orobo, went to bury Glory in the swamp at Otto Canal in the midnight. I was angry and I raised alarm and that was how the people in the community helped me to drag Okechukwu to the Denton Police Station.”...

Police take over case

The case was later transferred to the Iponri Police Division, where police officers have began investigation into the case. The Community Development Officer of Otto Ilogbo, Agbodemu Ishola Musbau, described the incident as unfortunate. “Glory is a very peace-loving person and she is very gentle,” he said. “I remember that I last saw her in January and later asked after her and they told me that she travelled to the east. Since then I have not heard anything from her until now that I got information that her boyfriend allegedly connived with a lady called Orobo to kill her and they threw her body into the swampy canal here in Otto. This community is peaceful and we will get to the root of the matter, and we will not condole murderers living with us and that is why we are raising the alarm about the death so that police can investigate it.”

“If Okechukwu is found guilty of the allegation then he will be made to face the penalty of his crime. His girlfriend, Orobo, who allegedly committed this crime with him, is at large but the police will arrest her and with our cooperation, she will be arrested soon. So that this will serve as a deterrent to criminally minded people not to take the laws into their hands.”

..

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Talks have reached an advanced stage between the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] and the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] to produce General Muhammadu Buhari as presidential candidate of a joint CPC/ACN ticket for the 2011 elections with former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as his running mate, top sources in both parties told Daily Trust in Abuja at the weekend. The sources denied media reports that the talks had collapsed...

High level sources in the two camps confirmed to Daily Trust the possibility of the Buhari/Tinubu ticket but said there are still challenges ahead. Our sources said that though the Tinubu associates feel the ticket is 'perfect' in view of the political strength of the two men in the North and Southwest respectively, some Buhari associates are treading cautiously to avoid compounding the 'erroneous' perception of Buhari as a religious zealot should he run on a Muslim/Muslim ticket in the election.

Some of his associates who reason against the Muslim-Muslim ticket are said to have advised that Buhari should consider picking a running mate from the Southeast. In view of this, they are said to have commenced discussions with some Igbo leaders including former vice president Alex Ekwueme. But CPC leaders who reject the Southeast running mate idea have told the General that there is at present no politician in the South East who has the standing that Asiwaju Tinubu has in the South West.

Tinubu's position was enormously enhanced in political circles by ACN's serial regaining of Edo, Ekiti and Onus states from the PDP through the courts. Even though Ondo State's Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who also toppled the PDP through the courts, officially belongs to the Labour Party, he is seen as another Tinubu ally.

A top source in the ACN who sought anonymity said the Buhari/Tinubu combination is not a serious impediment, and that Nigerians are only going to take it as "another doctrine of necessity." He said he believed that even the Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN] will welcome Tinubu's candidature because of his "sense of justice to the various religions" when he was governor of Lagos State.

The source said, "Nigerians will see it as another doctrine of necessity. We must look at Bola Ahmad Tinubu as a person that is acceptable to the Christians. As a governor, he promoted harmony among all religions. I know that there is a mosque and chapel in the Lagos government house where he ruled for eight years.

I know he returned schools to missionaries, both Muslims and Christians. So I do not see that as a serious impediment. And don't forget that there are certain parts of Nigeria, the south west in particular, where religion doesn't play too much role as a factor in politics. In south west, it is more about personality."

But even if serious talks are revived between the two groups, there are a number of tricky details to contend with. For instance, going by the electoral laws, it is now too late to do a merger of political parties. The question now has to do with the nature of agreement to be entered into, and whether such an agreement will only apply to the presidential election or across board.

Buhari and his associates in the CPC have always insisted on 'alliance' that would give Buhari the presidential slot so that the ACN will produce his running mate. But the ACN had insisted on 'merger' until the time for that elapsed based on the electoral laws.

A high level source in the ACN told Daily Trust that the last thing the ACN will agree to is an 'alliance' with the CPC. The source said it does not have to be a merger so long as it is not an alliance. The fusion he said could be in a name change, "even if it is something like ACPC."

He said the ACN is sceptical about entering into a merger agreement with Buhari because many of the members still believe that he is not yet "democratically domesticated enough" to be trusted to handle an alliance of different parties after winning an election. The fear is that General may not be accessible after election.

"But if we are all in the same political party, there is always a National Executive Committee [NEC] to call him [Buhari] and say look we want this, we don't want this," he said.

It would be recalled that a group of Democratic Peoples Party [DPP] members led by 2007 presidential candidate of the party Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa had agreed with the then Action Congress [AC] and transformed into a new party, the ACN.

Meanwhile there are indications that General Muhammadu Buhari is under pressure within the CPC as a group of key supporters have told him that his only chance of ever becoming president lies in reaching some kind of understanding with a strong political group from the South, in particular the ACN.

Daily Trust learnt that the key allies have insisted that he must explore a working agreement with the ACN since the party has shown some interest in his candidature except if he wants "to go down in history as always being a candidate but never a president."

Buhari was said to have been challenged by the supporters during a meeting in Kaduna last Tuesday. Our source said the group appears to be succeeding as there are fresh moves to revive the stalled talks in order to find some common ground to work on.

Before now, Muhammadu Buhari's stiffness and possible sabotage by some of his close aides had made the CPC/ACN electoral understanding almost impossible, according to competent sources within both parties. The ACN even under its old name, Action Congress [AC] had never hidden its interest in working out an agreement with the two times presidential candidate of the opposition ANPP, now putative candidate of the newly formed CPC as a possible common front to dislodge the ruling PDP.

So far the effort has met with little success even as the national chairman of the ACN Chief Bisi Akande personally went to meet with the former military head of state on the same issue.

When contacted, Engr. Buba Galadima, member of the Board of Trustees of the CPC said the talks with CPC have never broken down as being speculated. He said the contact has moved to "a much higher level."

"There is greater understanding between both sides because we are naturally compatible; we are ideologically compatible and we firmly believe that there must be a change of regime come May 29, 2011. And we are all agreed that there is no sacrifice too much to make for that change to happen," he said.

National Director of Publicity of the ACN Alhaji Lai Mohammed who was contacted on telephone failed to respond to some critical questions but agreed that discussions are going on with various interest groups with a view to defeat the PDP in the 2o11 elections.

"Definitely I know there are still talks. These talks are not restricted to the two political parties. There are even people who are not politicians from all over Nigeria and are trying to talk to leaders of all political parties to come and save Nigeria from collapse. For it is clear that PDP cannot provide the true leadership Nigerians need," he said.

According to a highly placed source, former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme will head the committee that would screen those shortlisted and come up with what the source called “ a level headed, focused, acceptable candidate who also has the capacity to step into Atiku’s shoes come 2015” Top on the list is madam Ngozi okonjo Iweala others who may will likely make the list are Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, former Information minister, Emeka Chikelu, Ken Nnnamani, and Charles Soludo

"I can confirm to you that the origin of the impounded consignment of arms, military equipment and vehicles is Belgium. The vessel came to Nigeria via Germany," Captain Kabir Aliyu told AFP.

He said those arrested over the illegal shipment were Nigerians, but refused to give details because of an ongoing investigation.

The shipment, including pistols, hundreds of ammunition, bulletproof jackets, military boots and other related banned items, was seized at the Lagos port weeks after the discovery of a weapons cache sent from Iran.

Aliyu said the military items were packed inside a vehicle painted in army green, while eight heavy duty trucks painted in military camouflage were also impounded.

Small Union Jack stickers had been placed on some of the vehicles, but the spokesman said they seem to have been used as a disguise.

Officials at the Belgian embassy in Nigeria were not immediately available for comments on the latest shipment.

Last month, Nigerian security agents intercepted an illegal arms shipment that included rockets and grenades at the same port which had been loaded in Iran.

Nigeria reported the shipment to the UN Security Council.

Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions for pursuing the programme, which the West suspects is cover for a drive for a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies. The sanctions include a ban on arms sales.

Tensions are rising ahead of next year's general elections in Africa's most populous country of 150 million people, which has witnessed voter fraud and violence.

More Arms Intercepted at Tin Can Island Port

Real Madrid stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho were on Sunday night stunned when a neighbour was held by police on suspicion of being one of the world’s biggest drug barons.

Mexican Nicolas Rivera Gamez, 49, was arrested at his mansion in a prestigious part of Madrid for allegedly trafficking £175million of cocaine.

Rivera, who has a fleet of 20 supercars including Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Maseratis and Ferraris, lives just a stone's throw from Ronaldo and Mourinho in the Spanish capital.

Investigators say he was the boss of a gang trafficking millions of pounds worth of cocaine into Europe from South America.

Investigators believe big-spending Rivera, whose house is on the exclusive La Finca estate, blew an average of £10,000 a day in cash.

They reportedly found more than a million pounds in cash in a suitcase in the boot of one of his cars.

Former Manchester United star Ronaldo, 25, owns a £4.3million, seven-bedroom villa in La Finca, while ex-Chelsea boss Mourinho, 47, rents a £17,000-a-month three-story villa down the road.

THE UK has agreed to tighten its cap on migration from outside the UK, but committed not to limit intra-company transfer of qualified employees...

From 2011 onwards the number of skilled and highly skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area allowed to move to the UK will be capped at 21,700 – that is 22.5% fewer than the equivalent figure in 2009.

However, in a victory to multinational companies who had been lobbying hard against limits on their ability to transfer staff between global offices, there will be no limit on intra-company transfer of staff earning £40,000/y or more.

The limit is the highest of a range of options recommended to the government by independent migration advisors. Advisors had recommended curbing immigration at 43,700. That is 6300 less than the 50,000 skilled immigrants from outside the EU who arrived in the UK in 2009. However, the 50,000 arrivals also included 22,000 who were transferred between company offices, hence these 22,000 were subtracted from the maximum.

Tuition fees to triple in the UK

Following David Cameron’s pledge to dramatically reduce immigration the number of foreign student visas will be cut to 120,000.

Home Secretary, Theresa May, unveiled plans yesterday to limit that number of skilled non-European workers allowed to enter Britain to 21,700. Staff with transfer jobs under the same employer in England will be excluded. This allows for a total of between 35,000 and 40,000 skilled workers to enter Britain.

Foreign students make up 60 per cent of migrants to Britain. Therefore, May stated that in the future only those applying for degree courses will be issued a visa...
No place for people enroling into fake schools to run away and hussle


May explained to Parliament that a quarter of those issued visas to study below degree level were unaccounted for. She believes students at these lower levels of education have been abandoning school in favor of living and working. May stated that this must be stopped.
At last measures being taken to stop the fake applications

It is estimated that 40 per cent of the 300,000 current student visas are for education below the degree level. May announced that under this new scheme visas would only be issued for universities, further education colleges and a few specially selected institutions.

Also student fees will rise which will make paying difficult.
Universities in England will be able to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year from 2012, as the government transfers much of the cost of courses from the state to students.

Fees will rise to £6,000, with an upper tier of £9,000 That is N2,139,890

Fees should be payed up front for full tuition which is not refundable to prevent husslers leaving after first term to work.

Rev. Tunde Bakare, senior pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, and convener of Save Nigeria Group (SNG), has denied claim by Sahara reporters that fifty thousand dollars was offered to members of the group as bribe in exchange for their support, during a

“This is a false story that should be dismissed by all right thinking persons”.

General recommendations for prevention of insomnia include the following:

• Work to improve your sleep habits.
• • Learn to relax. Self-hypnosis, biofeedback and relaxation breathing are often helpful.
  • Control your environment. Avoid light, noise, and excessive temperatures. Use the bed only to sleep and avoid using it for reading and watching TV.Sexual activity is an exception.
  • Establish a bedtime routine. Fix wake time.

• Avoid large meals, excessive fluid intake, and strenuous exercise before bedtime and reduce the use of stimulantsincluding caffeine and nicotine.
• If you do not fall asleep within 20 to 30 minutes, try a relaxing activity such as listening to soothing music or reading.
• Limit daytime naps to less than 15 minutes unless directed by your doctor.
• • It is generally preferable to avoid naps whenever possible to help consolidate your night's sleep.
  • There are certain sleep disorders, however, that will benefit from naps. Discuss this issue with your doctor.

Fiery Lagos-based pastor, Tunde Bakare, has confirmed to Saharareporters that President Goodluck Jonathan provided a $50,000 cash bribe to a delegation of the Save Nigeria Group that visited him last Monday, but that the group sent back the money.

Pastor Bakare’s confirmation came in the midst of a tepid denial of our earlier report by Tony Uranta, one of Mr. Jonathan's political operatives. Uranta had claimed on his Facebook page yesterday that Saharareporters misrepresented the crux of the meeting between the president and the Pastor Bakare-led delegation.

Specifically, Uranta denied that Jonathan discussed his ambition to run for office with the SNG delegation. He also stated that no money was offered to the SNG team and claimed that, contrary to our earlier report, the Bakare group had not asked him to return the bribe money to Jonathan.

But in a telephone interview with Saharareporters on Sunday evening, Pastor Bakare confirmed that the details of our earlier exclusive report were factual and unimpeachable.

Bakare, who has a reputation for speaking out fearlessly on current political issues, affirmed that the Minister of the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, had offered the SNG delegation the sum of $50,000 on behalf of President Jonathan. The SNG had met with Jonathan to review his performance in office.

In the phone interview, Pastor Bakare stated categorically that his team was indeed offered money after it submitted a position paper on why it was opposed to the president's ambition to be re-elected. He confirmed that the cash was immediately returned to sender through Uranta, shortly after it was presented to the SNG delegation.

The SNG convener told Saharareporters that his team felt terribly embarrassed and offended by the orchestrated attempt by Jonathan and his team to buy the SNG’s support through illicit means.

An obviously angry Bakare said, “You can quote me. I don't do deals and I don't lie. Tony [Uranta] could be saving his own face. Tony lied that he didn't collect the money from us. There are living witnesses. Orubebe has confirmed to me that the money was returned. Mr. President is aware through Oronto Douglas that we returned his money through Tony.”

Bakare said he, Yinka Odumakin and other SNG officials went to the meeting with Jonathan with a written document that explained why the SNG would not support his candidacy.

“We submitted a document regarding the culture of impunity in which he (Jonathan) continues to swim," he said.

As Saharareporters had exclusively reported, Jonathan sought a meeting with the Save Nigeria Group to discuss his ambition to run for office after it dawned on him that former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, the consensus candidate chosen by the so-called Northern Political Elders Forum, was going to present a stiff political challenge.

A close aide to Mr. Jonathan told Saharareporters that, whilst Atiku is steeped in corruption, the president was also aware that the Atiku group had a dossier on corrupt deals by both Jonathan, his wife and his close associates and advisors, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

After Bakare made his presentation and accused Jonathan of having abused the goodwill offered him by Nigerians, the president tried to buy the group’s loyalty by giving its officials $50,000 through Orubebe.

An Abuja-based democratic activist told Saharareporters that, by attempting to buy the SNG's support, Mr. Jonathan had “exposed himself to charges of hypocrisy and doing the opposite of what he preaches.”

In a speech on Saturday, Mr. Jonathan had urged Nigerians to ignore politicians who seek to win elections by offering money to groups and individuals....The president gave the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do sermon at the 2010 graduation ceremony of the Senior Executive Course 32 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Plateau State. Vice President Namadi Sambo represented the president at the event and read the speech on Jonathan’s behalf.