Reggae Icon, Majekodunmi Fashekunola, popularly known as Majek Fashek is presently hospitalised in a London hospital, battling for life.
The ‘rainmaker’ crooner is said to be suffering from Schizophrenia, a mental health disorder that disturbs thinking and perceptions of life.
As a result of the illness, Fashek has become paranoid, and hasn’t been able to eat, talk or communicate with anyone.
The state of his health is said to have deteriorated so much that he has spent everything on him.
His manager, Uzoma Omenka, said there is no money to further continue the treatment of the reggae legend, as all efforts to meet the Nigeria Embassy officials in the United Kingdom has not yielded any positive fruit.
Omenka stressed that the truth is that they are presently stranded in London, as they are in great debt, and need financial support to save Majek’s life.
“Majek’s life is in danger. It will be painful if he dies like this. We appeal to Nigerians to help us financially in saving the life of this African legend, for him to continue treatment”, Omenka cried.
Omenka also pleaded with the Federal Government and State Governments to assist in saving the life of Majek.
He dropped the account details where well-meaning Nigerians can send their donations.
Barclays Bank 30260762202947
Account Name: Uzoma Day Omenka
#Telephone: +1 682-246-6621, +44 7448 512502.
In the United States of America, September 11 (9/11) is not a day Americans remember with joy
To them, it is a black day, a day of doom – doomed. Evil.
It was the day in 2001, when Armageddon visited the world’s most powerful Nation.
It was the day the then world’s most notorious terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, and his terrorist group, Al Queda, threw hell on America.
Hijacking five commercial airplanes within the USA, his men slammed them on America and Americans. Thousands died, the highest number, at the World Trade Centre.
So on Wednesday, when Americans would solemnly mark the day, Nigeria, the world’s most populous black nation would be gripped by tension, anxiety and, may be, fear.
It is the date the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has chosen to deliver the much awaited ruling on the petition filed by the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP), and its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, against the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari, (APC), at the Presidential polls.
So tension is already high. Blood pressures are up. So are anxiety and expectations. And, even fear of the unknown grips many.
Not a few people say they would stay indoors on Wednesday. Schools have just resumed, but many parents insist their children will be home.
The delay in delivering the judgement became so worrisome that, at least, one national newspaper wrote an editorial asking that it be delivered.
Earlier, Atiku had called for the judgement, so that an appeal, in case the judgement does not favour him, will not be statue barred.
Both the APC and the PDP are confident of victory.
Announcing the date for judgement, in a release on Tuesday, Sa’adatu Kachalla, Court of Appeal’s Spokesperson said,
“Presidential Election Petition Tribunal:
Please be informed. Notice has been given for judgement to be delivered tomorrow, September 11.”
Three petitions were filed against Buhari’s victory. Two had since been dismissed, remaining only that of the PDP.
The party and its candidate not only challenged the President’s victory, it also challenged his educational qualifications.
In all, the PDP presented 62 witnesses, while Buhari presented seven winesses. INEC presented none.
Whichever party loses on Wednesday will, definitely, proceed to the Supreme Court, the final
For the former Governor of Imo State and, now, the Senator representing Imo West, it is a breath of fresh air. For a man whose lot has been one trouble after another since the end of his tenure as a governor, it is a rare moment of joy. And it came from unexpected quarters.
The Judiciary on Monday gave him a reason to genuinely be happy since May 29, the day he left the Imo governorship seat.
For Okorocha, it was a rare moment of victory.
The Imo State NASS Election Tribunal, which delivered its judgment on Monday in Abuja, dumped into the dustbin, the petitions filed against his victory at the Senatorial polls, by the candidates of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and that of the All Progressive Grand Alliance. APGA, Hon. Jones Onyereri, Senator Osita Izunaso, respectively.
It was a double whammy, therefore, for Okorocha, and he celebrated no end. He gushed with joy in a statement released on his behalf by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo.
Okorocha:”The Judiciary is the aroma of democracy”.
And that is the irony.
For a man who, for the eight years he was governor, disobeyed all court rulings and orders, to hear him praise the Judiciary in such glowing terms is confounding to many people.
Noted an Imo elder who wants to remain anonymous, “I am shocked that Okorocha would praise an arm of government he derided and rubbished for eight years”.
But this is not the first time, really, that Okorocha would be praising the Judiciary since his governorship of Imo State. When INEC refused to give him the Senate Certificate of Return, on the grounds that he was declared the winner under duress, the court ordered INEC to give it to him. INEC complied, and for doing that, he is at the Senate today.
It is for the same Senate seat that both Izunaso and Onyereri went to the Tribunal to protest Okorocha’s controversial victory.
Noted an APC chieftain who is Okorocha’s ally: “Honest, we didn’t expect this victory. But, there is something called destiny, and, the law, they say, is an ass”.
Perhaps, for, not many Imolites expected this technical knockout against Izunaso and Onyereri.
Their Lordships may have seen what those Imolites didn’t see. Which is why they dismissed the petitions, insisting that the petitioners were unable to prove their cases before the Tribunal.
No wonder Okorocha is celebrating.
His unadulterated joy was expressed in the statement on his behalf by Onwuemeodo. It reads in part:
“Following the ruling of the National Assembly Elections’ Tribunal, upholding his election as the Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has described the Judiciary as the aroma and backbone of the nation’s democracy, and members of the Tribunal as apostles of justice.
” Senator Osita Izunaso, APGA, and Jones Onyeriri, PDP, were not able to prove the allegations of duress and malpractice.
” With this latest ruling by the Tribunal, it is now obvious that Okorocha won his election through the ballot box and the issue of duress was a mere campaign of calumny.”
While Okorocha commended both petitioners, calling them good ambassadors of Orlu, his zone, he asked them to join hands with him to uplift the lot of the zone.
Izunaso was a former ally of Okorocha in the APC. Both of them were originally of the PDP before Okorocha jumped ship to APGA, and, later to the APC where he met Izunaso who became a top official of the APC after he dumped the PDP.
The next few days will decide whether the two men will appeal Okorocha’s victory at the Court of Appeal or not.
As for now, Okorocha is savouring this unexpected victory.
On Tuesday September 3, around 1pm, a First Bank Customers’ representative was very busy attending to customers who wanted to open a new bank account at the bank’s Abule- Egba/ U-turn bus stop along the Lagos Abeokuta expressway.
The lady, fair and lanky, stood out in the smart, swift manner she attended to customers.
From their looks, all the customers she attended to that day were very impressed by her manners, except that she didn’t put on her name tag for proper identification.
Bank’s Staff Don’t Put On Tags For Identification
The magazine also observed that other staff who attended to customers at the branch on that sunny afternoon did not put on name tags.
“She’s one of the best staff in this bank because she makes us happy the way she attends to us,” an elderly woman said.
Analysts insist that the bank has been making customers happy since it started commercial business in Nigeria in 1894.
Ibukun Adesokan And Others Are Directors
This has turned out a blessing for the commercial bank which has reputable Nigerians such as Ibukun Awosika as chairman of its board of directors.
Other members of the bank’s board are Dr Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan (managing director and chief executive), Francis Gbenga, Abdullahi Ibrahim and Dr Remi Oni.
Also on the board are Mrs Olusola .O.Owuru, a former commissioner in Lagos state, Dr(mrs) Ijeoma E. Jidenma, Ibrahim Dahiru Waziri among others.
Over 800 Branches Across Nigeria
According to Wikipedia First bank “specialises in retail banking and has the largest retail client base in Nigeria.
The banks has a total assets of N4,514,789,000,000, number of employees 7,616 and over 800 branches and N294, 284,000,000 operating income.
Customers Narrate Bitter Experience
“If you are above 65 years, there’s the possibility that you have been a customer of First Bank at a point in your life. It used to be one of the best banks in the country,” Seye Adebukola, a financial expert told the magazine in Lagos on Tuesday.
That was until the bank started suffering from some corporate governance issues bordering on theft of customer’s deposit and other fraudulent practices, other analysts say.
“In many instances, the involvement of senior employees of the bank in some of these incidents has come as a shock to many Nigerians whose only reason for banking with First Bank is its reputation as the oldest bank in the country,” Chidi Innocent, a risk analyst said.
That’s exactly the belief of Ugwu Ezekiel Chukwuma when he decided to open an account with First Bank whose slogan “You First” resonates with the unique services it rendered in those days when new generation banks were yet to debut in the country.
“To live our promise of ‘YOU First‘, we design products and services to support your personal, family and business needs,” the bank said on its website.
“There was never a bank with so much trust among customers that when you put your money in First Bank in those days you can go home and sleep,” Pa Jide Abraham, a 75 year old retired civil servant told the magazine.
Everything has now changed suddenly as Ezekiel would later discover.
He had opened a bank account with First Bank, based on the advice of his friends and started depositing money from his business with the intention of growing the saving for future to expansion and possibly takes care of other pressing needs.
At least, that’s what he thought when he opened a bank account no 3030674966 with the bank’s NIJ House, Adeyemo Alakija Street, Victorial Island branch.
But he didn’t envisage that some employees of the bank have other intentions.
At the point of opening the account he demanded “for an alert system either by means of an e-mail or Short Message Service, SMS on transactions on his account” so that he could monitor daily transactions of the account, but the bank told him” none was available at the time,” Ikechukwu Owodi, his lawyer said in a letter he wrote to the bank on his client’s behalf.
Whatever the reasons for not making these windows available for Chukwuma, to enable him keep tab on his account is only known to the bank, but what happened not long after he started operating the account raised some very serious posers.
Within a few weeks of opening the account, he started noticing that money was systematically being withdrawn from his account.
Initially, he thought it was a mistake that will be corrected with time. But that never happened. Within few days, close to five hundred thousand naira has been withdrawn without his authorization.
At this point, he reported the matter to the bank which refused to help resolve the matter.
Chukwuma then contacted his lawyer who took the matter up by writing a letter to the bank demanding that his client be refunded the exact amount “stolen’ from his account.
“The essence of this letter” his lawyer stated “is to finally demand that your bank refunds the sum of N474, 300.00(four hundred and seventy –four thousand three hundred naira) being the total sum of money stolen from our client’s account in your bank without further delay by forwarding your check drawn in favour of Ugwu Ezekiel Chukwuma to us.” The letter was addressed to the managing director of the bank.
All effort to get the money back has been frustrated by First Bank management.
His lawyer told the magazine last week that the bank set all manners of obstacles on their part to recover the stolen money.
At a point, he said, his client was so frustrated that he was no longer interested in recovering his hard earned money stolen from his account.
That seems to be the lots of other customers who may have gone through some bitter experience with the Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan led bank.
Adeduntan, First Bank Managing Director
One customer at the Allen Avenue branch of First Bank, told the magazine on Wednesday that there was a time he noticed that huge sums have been withdrawn from her account without her approval.
It took “sweat and blood before they agreed to return the money,” she narrated.
“When I complained to my account manager, he told me to write a letter which I did. Initially, they accused me of compromising my PIN and other details of my account. But they later realized that it was an in-house fraud.
In spite of this, we were on the matter for several weeks before they finally returned my money,” the customer who did not want her name mentioned because of “personal reasons” told The Source.
Depositors Dump Bank For Competitors
Others have not been so lucky. Obi Nwagwu, a freight forwarder told the magazine in Apapa last week that he operated a current account with the bank for over 15 years until three years ago when he finally closed the account “when I discovered that money was being moved from my account. I later discover that the job was done by some workers of the bank,” Nwagwu said.
“When I complained, I was told that i would be refunded. They never did. At a point, I decided to move my account to another bank,” he said.
Analysts Worry Over Insiders Involvement
Analysts say the bank has one of the worst Reputational Risk Impact, RRI among the banks in the country.
“From number one position as the bank with the best reputation in the country, in terms of customers’ confidence that they can go home and sleep whenever they keep their money with the bank, recent cases of incessant theft of customers’ deposit had damaged its image,” according to Abdulrazak Ayeye, a forensic fraud analyst in Lagos.
He however explained that the development is not peculiar to the bank, except that other banks have been building “firewalls that are capable of preventing fraud in their banks. May be the management of First Bank should begin to invest in this area,” he said.
Apart from this, he stated that the bank should make sure that any employee caught in the act of stealing money from customers’ account must not be covered by the management, rather they should be handed over to “EFCC for prosecution after they have been exposed and disciplined to serve as deterrence to others,” he said.
That seems not to be the case with First Bank who has a growing reputation for failure to expose any of its employees involved theft and fraud, analysts say.
“Once beaten, twice shy, I have had a sad experience with the bank since then, I never want to have anything to do with them again,” said a customer, who added that the bank’s services are slow “ the only thing that draw you to the bank is trust. But they seem to have lost their Unique selling Proposition,” he said.
He explained that his friends and relations who he shared his ordeal with where somehow disappointed and now some of them are planning to withdraw their account, while others said they will never have anything to do with First Bank.
From number one position years ago, First Bank has slipped to number three, behind Zenith and GT Bank.
“Customers’ perception of a bank matters a lot. Whenever a customer decides to leave a particular bank, it’s a plus for the new one he has moved to. This will likely affect the fortune of the bank no matter how insignificant the customer,” Nwagwu said.
His advice came on the crest of recent reports by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, that banks in the country have formed the habits of covering employees accused of fraudulent practices.
In its report, the NDIC said over N15.15 bn was stolen from customers’ accounts in 2018 alone in a racket involving top managers and supervisors of various banks in the country.
The regulatory body in the report also stated that there’s significant rise in the number of bank’s employees involved in the racket as the number rose from 320 in 2017 to 899 in 2018.
The magazine reached out to Ismail Omamegbe, the bank’s head, Media and External Relations to get his response on the issues. He promised to get back to the magazine.
He never did. The image maker did not also respond to text messages later sent to his telephone line.
If things continue to fall apart between the All Progressive Congress’, APC, National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, the APC may lose the state to their rival People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
Both men, bosom friends until politics tore apart, are doing everything to run down each other.
Oshiomhole was Obaseki’s political godfather. Until he endorsed him as his successor, to the shock and anger of a couple of his other aides who had eyes on succeeding him, Obaseki was Oshiomhole’s SSG.
But soon after he became governor, he and his governor fell apart.
The story out there, at the time, was that Oshiomhole wanted to run the state for Obaseki, as is actually the case in a few states.
It was a rumour both men tried to cover up by denying. But the sh.t hit the roof a couple of months ago when both men disagreed openly over the Speakership of the Edo State House of Assembly.
Oshiomhole has an interest in somebody else, and Obaseki in another. But Oshiomhole pulled the rug from under Oshiomhole’s feet. His preferred candidate, was installed Speaker. And, since then, Edo APC has had no peace.
Since then, many people, including governors, had intervened, but there has been no peace, inspire of claims by both men to the contrary.
A few days ago, Oshiomhole told Nigerians what his anger was with Oshiomhole.
He said it was not over appointments or money. He has never asked him for a favour. But, he emphasized that out of the about 20 Commissioners, he nominated only one. Even that one, he revealed, was sacked by Obaseki, soon after a peace meeting was held. Yet, Oshiomhole said that didn’t worry him.
His grouse, he said stems from the fact that Obaseki discontinued with all the projects his government, which Obaseki was part of, started. Government is a continuum, he explained. He also said he had no interest in either Obaseki’s impeachment, as is being rumoured, or in stopping him from contesting for a second term in office.
But in a swift response on Monday, Obaseki prefered not to dignify Oshiomhole’s submission with a response. He simply said he was pursuing the path of peace but declared that Oshiomhole was hostile to his government.
Proof: Oshiomhole says he does not, and will not, recognize Frank Okiye as the Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly. He wants another Proclamation by the Governor, and what he calls a proper election of a Speaker.
These are trying days for Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu.
Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, was on Monday sacked by the National and State Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Umuahia.
Sentor Mao Ohuabunwa had dragged Kalu to the Tribunal on the grounds that the election was fraught with fraud as there were no elections in many areas in the Senatorial zone, voted deliberately cancelled.
Presided over by the Hon. Justice Cornelius Akintayo, the three-man Election Tribunal agreed with Ohuabunwa and sacked Kalu.
It ordered a re-run in some areas within 90 days. The areas where the supplementary election is billed to hold are: Eight wards in the Arochukwu Local Government Area, and several polling units in Ohafia and Isiukwuato LGAs where votes were cancelled.
Until his sack, Kalu, APC, was the Senator representing Abia North Senatorial Zone.
Remarkably, he took over from Ohuabunwa, PDP, the man whose petition against Kalu has now forced a re-run.
The Super Eagles camp in Dnipro, Ukraine, is set to trade tackles with the Yellow-Blue team of Ukraine in an international friendly on 10th August, 2019.
Surprisingly, Super Eagles captain and defender, Ahmed Musa and Kenneth Omeruo have pulled out of the Friendly, including Leicester City’s Wilfried Ndidi and Monaco Football Club Striker, Henry Onyekuru due to work permit issues that has prevented him from teaming up with his colleague in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
Inspite of the late withdrawal by some key players in the squad due to some issues, the players in camp have vowed to upset their host and record a victory in the Eastern European Country.
Coach Gernot Rohr gave a late call up to Club Brugge striker, Dennis Bonaventure, Anderson Esiti of PAOK Salonica in Greece, Brian Idowu of UFA Football Club in France and Josh Maja of Girondins Bordeaux.
These four players replaced Musa, Onyekuru, Omeruo and Ndidi respectively.
Super Eagles new sensation, Samuel Chukwueze of Villarreal Football Club has vowed to prove a point in the encounter, planning to unleash is mesmerizing skills and scoring prowess against the Andrey Shevchenko side.
The list of players in Ukraine for the face off are: Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Maduka Okoye and Maduka Okoye.
Others are: Leon Balogun, William Troost Ekong, Brian Idowu,Zabaleta Jamilu Collins, Joe Eribo, Anderson Esiti, Oghenekaro Etebo, and Alex Iwobi.
Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze, Josh Maja, Paul Onuachu, Samuel Kalu, Dennis Bonaventure and Moses Simon.
The The Ukraine Football Federation has named Paolo Valerie, as the centre referee for Nigeria’s international friendly against Ukraine on Tuesday at the Dnipro Arene.
Valerie became an international referee in January 1, 2011.
Valerie, 41-year-old Italian has issued 145 cards in his career so far.
He will be assisted by compatriots, Alessandro Costanzo and Stefano Alassio.
A statement from Ukraine Football Federation’s official website read: “The main arbiter will be Paolo Valerie. Alessandro Costanzo and Stefano Alassio will help him along the lines. The role of the fourth arbitrator will be performed by Ukrainian Vitaliy Romanov
The Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists, NGIJ, on Sunday stormed Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital for governance and impact assessment of Governor Seriake Dickson’s, almost, eight years administration in the state.
The NGIJ President, Wale Abydeen, in a statement issued in Yenagoa said the assessment was aimed at promoting accountability, transparency and good governance as well as strengthening Nigeria’s fledgling democratic rule by performing its watchdog role in the society.
Abydeen hinted that the Guild’s members while in the state would interact with critical stakeholders including traditional rulers, security agencies, top government functionaries, labour leaders, political parties, artisans and others.
He added that 10,000 questionnaires will be administered across all the eight local government areas of the State to assess the achievements and impact of Dickson administration on the people.
The NGIJ President explained that the assessment became necessary as the governor is concluding his two-term tenure and in view of the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
He, however, disclosed that the Guild, in August 2019, unveiled its Governance Assessment Report on the administration of Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja
NGIJ is an association of journalists driven by the thirst for professionalism and agenda setting role of the media to make government more accountable to the governed.
Its objectives include stimulating the culture of investigation and deep research in journalism to help democratic process and political choice.
The NGIJ will progressively beam its torch on other states with upcoming elections to feel the pulse of the people.
Former Minister for Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe says it is the turn of the South-West geo-political zone to produce the next president after the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The former Senator that represented Lagos-East Senatorial District under the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, cross- carpeted to the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, becoming a stalwart in the party.
Ogunlewe stressed that under no circumstances does the North have any right to jostle for power come 2023, because power rotation indicates that it’s the time of the South-West.
The former PDP chieftain added that the South-South and South-East also have the democratic and equal rights to contest, as there is a level playing field for all aspirants from the South.
“It’s a competition that is healthy in which all regions excluding the North can come out and aspire for the Presidency come 2023.
“The South-West is strategizing on assuming power in 2023, so other regional too should start planning ahead of that. Let them work hard. That’s why I am in APC.
“We have sacrificed a lot for this country, we are the people who fought for democracy. We are entitled to it and surely, we will compete for it.
“What the North needs to do is to handover power to us in 2023, certainly, we will be given opportunity to compete, that’s why I am in this political party to attain this goal in 2023”.
The attacks on foreigners by South African citizens, which lulled within the week, reared its head again Sunday with renewed zeal against foreigners.
The capital city, Johannesburg, was a flash point of Violence, according to The South African, a South African tabloid. The paper claimed that ten people died with the last attacks. It was also reported that goods worth millions of Rand were destroyed during the earlier riots.
Letters were circulating on the internet warning of the impending attacks on Sunday. Government officials were not helping matters as they were reported to have been reeling out inciting comments.
Demands were on the Chief of Police Bheki Cele and the president, Cyril Ramaphosa to address the organized rioters within 24 hours or the country will go up in unprecedented violence.
But reports indicate that Nigerians are prepared to defend themselves this time. Videos going viral show Nigerians vowing to resist the current attacks, claiming the previous one took them unawares.
President Buhari is expected to go on state visit to south Africa by October, a decision roundly criticized by the opposition and critics as counter productive and a diplomatic blunder.
But reports indicate the rioters are attacking everyone they meet, not just foreigners.
According to reports, at least two people has been killed and many arrested in Johannesburg-and that appears to be the official figure.
Meanwhile, there has been reports that there was an explosion at the South African High Commission in Abuja-a report that the Minister of Information, Lai Mohamed denied. The police also denied it, calling it fake news.
“The Nigeria Police Force has provided adequate security in and around all South African Missions and related business interests,” the police said.
Nigeria has issued travel advisory on South Africa, while Air Peace, a private Airline, offered to airlift Nigerians willing to return home. but many are skeptical that Nigerians will not avail themselves of the opportunity, preferring to stay back and fight it out.
