Sunday, September 23, 2018

Comedian Bovi's wife burst into tears as he surprises her with Mercedes Benz car at her 30th birthday party


Last night, comedian Bovi threw a birthday party for his wife and mother of his three children, Kris, who turned 30 recently. The party was attended by family members, friends and colleagues of the comedian. The highlight of the party was when Bovi presented Kris with a Mercedes Benz car as a birthday present. Kris couldn't contain her joy as she wept while receiving the car.

Friday, September 21, 2018

Another Minister enmeshed in NYSC certificate forgery scandal. This time it's Adebayo


Barely a week after former Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun resigned after she owned up to been in possession of a forged NYSC dischage certiticate, another Minister in the cabinet of President Buhari has been accused of forging his NYSC certicate.
According to a new report by Premiumtimes, Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, allegedly failed to participate in the NYSC scheme despite graduating from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) at age 25. Read the report as Published by Premumtimes below
Another minister serving in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet has been found to have skipped the mandatory national youth service scheme, an offence that may see him lose his position and earn him jail term.
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, failed to participate in the NYSC scheme despite graduating from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) at age 25, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report
The revelation about Mr. Shittu, who is currently angling to become Oyo State governor, is coming to light about a week after Kemi Adeosun was compelled to step down from her post as Nigeria’s finance minister after this medium reported that she skipped national service and then procured a fake exemption certificate to cover her tracks.
Months of discreet checks at the NYSC headquarters showed that the communications minister did not present himself for service after graduation and is yet to do so till date.
Contacted Tuesday, Mr. Shittu admitted that he did not serve but claimed he thought his first political post after graduation could suffice as national service, a claim lawyers and NYSC insiders consider as ludicrous and untenable.
Skipping the compulsory national service is an offence under the NYSC law, punishable with up to 12 months imprisonment.
Employers are mandated by law to always request NYSC certificate of national service from employees as part of the conditions for hiring.
Mr Shittu, born on March 23, 1953, studied law at Ife, graduating in 1978. He proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, qualifying as a lawyer in 1979.
Having earned a bachelors degree at the age of 25, Section 2 of the NYSC Act expects Mr Shittu to have participated in the year-long national service
Section 2 (1) of the NYSC Act mandates all Nigerians who earn degrees or higher national diplomas from tertiary institutions in Nigerian and abroad (effective 1972/73 session) to participate in the scheme.
Those exempted by the law are those who graduated after their 30th birthday, persons with national honours and individuals who serve in the military and intelligence organisations.
Rather than enlist in the national service, Mr Shittu went into politics after graduation, and was, in 1979, elected member of the Oyo State House of Assembly.
The minister said he believed that having been elected lawmaker, he needed not participate in the national service.
He said he deliberatively skipped the NYSC scheme because he was convinced that his membership of the state assembly was itself a “service”.
“The constitution provides for the qualification needed for state assembly members, NYSC is not there,” Mr. Shittu said. “I didn’t need it to become a member of the state assembly, and that is already a service,” he said.
Mr Shittu disagreed with our reporter who laboured to explain to him that the NYSC Act makes participation in the scheme mandatory for all graduates like him and that election or appointment to political office does not qualify as a basis for exemption.
What the Law Says
Mr Shittu’s argument does not appear convincing when placed against the letters of the NYSC law.
Section 2, subsection 1 of the Act makes it obligatory for “every Nigerian” who graduate at the end of academic year 1972-73 and subsequent years, “to make himself available for service for a continuous period of one year from the date specified in the call-up instrument served upon him”.
Subsection 2 of the same section enumerated instances of exemption from the national service, which did not include holding political office, as Mr Shittu claimed.
The four categories of individuals exempted from the national service, according to the NYSC law, are those who graduated above the age of thirty, and those who have served in the armed forces or the Nigeria Police for a period of more than nine months.
The third category covers staff of four security organisations, namely the Nigerian Security Organisation, the State Security Service, the National Intelligence Agency and the Defence Intelligence Service.
Exemption status is also conferred on individuals who bagged national honours before graduation.
Illegalities?
Despite not possessing certificate of national service, Mr Shittu went on from being a state lawmaker, to occupying important government positions, including his current post as minister.
Mr Shittu is a former attorney general and commissioner for justice in his native Oyo State. He also served as member of the Oyo State Judicial Service Commission from 2004 to 2007.
In 2005, he was nominated minister by President Buhari, and later assigned the communications portfolio upon legislative screening.
It is not clear how he scaled screenings by the Oyo State House of Assembly, the SSS, and the National Assembly, who are all expected to screen commissioner and ministerial nominees before their appointment.
Mr Shittu is now aspiring for governorship of Oyo State.
Section 12 of the NYSC Act mandates all employers to demand the national service certificate of prospective employees before hiring.
Section 12 of the Act reads:
“For the purposes of employment anywhere in the Federation and before employment, it shall be the duty of every prospective employer to demand and obtained from any person who claims to have obtained his first degree at the end of the academic year 1973-74 or, as the case may be, at the end of any subsequent academic year the following:-
a. a copy of the Certificate of National Service of such person issued pursuant to section 11 of this Decree
b. a copy of any exemption certificate issued to such person pursuant to section 17 of this Decree
c. such other particulars relevant there to as may be prescribed by or under this Decree.”
Section 13 of the Act also criminalises skipping the national service as it prescribes 12 months imprisonment or fine of N2,000 or both, for such offenders.
Lawyers speak
Lawyers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said the minister is in the breach of the NYSC law for skipping the national service.
“His membership of the state assembly is not the same as national service,” said Huwaila Mohammed, a Kano-based practitioner. “He needs to serve, because the section of the law dealing with exemption did not include political office holders like him.”
Another lawyer, Abdul Mahmud, agreed with Ms Mohammed’s position, saying the minister “is a dodger who is in breach of the law”.
He said by the provision of Section 12 of the NYSC Act, Mr Shittu ought to have presented his certificate of national service before he was cleared as minister.
“The provision is clear,” Mr. Mahmud said. “It says (you must serve) before you get any job in the federation.”
Mr Mahmud, who chairs the Abuja-based pressure group, Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL), said Mr Shittu’s “case is worse than that of Kemi Adeosun because he deliberately refused to serve”.
“If we assume as a member of the Oyo House he (Mr Shittu) served, did it not defeat objective 4 (b) stated in Section 1 (4) (b) of the NYSC Act? Members serve in states other than their own,” he said.
The lawyer said Mr Shittu should be arrested immediately by the police and made to face the law.
All positions he has held are illegal and he should return all monies he earned from those posts to government coffers.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

''We have moved 10m Nigerians out of poverty''- FG


Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, has said that the Buhari-led government has moved 10 million Nigerians out of poverty. Udoma stated this while speaking on arrangements for the 24th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#24) held at the conference room of the ministry in Abuja today Tuesday September 18th.
He said federal government had taken steps to move over 10 million Nigerians from poverty to prosperity as one of the key priorities of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP by investing in the people.
According to Udoma, the government had provided 8.96million school children under the Home Grown School Feeding Programme; over 297,000 poor and vulnerable Nigerians supported with cash transfer of N5,000 successfully disbursed more than 308,000 loans of N50,000 and above under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and 200,000 Young Unemployed Graduates Empowered through the N-Power scheme , while over 308,000 had been selected for consideration for the second batch.
‘‘We have taken steps towards moving our people from Poverty to prosperity. Indeed, one of the key priorities of the ERGP is investing in our people. That objective has been behind many Government programmes, particularly the Social Investment Programme. Under this programme, we have empowered millions of Nigerian youths, women and children. To combat hunger and achieve food security, we have raised capital provisions for agriculture from N8.8billion in 2015 to N149.2billion in the 2018 budget.
Over N82billion has been disbursed as credit to more than 350,000 farmers under the Anchor Borrowers’ programme. 14 moribund fertilizer blending plants have been revitalized through the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI), with a total capacity of 2.3million metric tons of NPK fertilizer. Nigeria’s milled rice production has increased by about 60% and since 2016 eight new rice mills have been brought into production'' he said

Happy 38th birthday to me.. Yay! Linda Ikeji


Today September 19th, I turn 38 and I can say without any doubt that 2018 has been the best year of my life so far! I became a mum. Something that I always wanted and wondered when it will happen for me.
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On my 37th birthday last year, I went down on my knees and told God, you've blessed me beyond what I thought was possible but there's something I want more than anything else; to be a wife and a mum before my next birthday. We will talk about the wife one later...but the one that was more important, the one my heart desired the most, he gave to me. My own child. Two days before my next birthday. Dear Lord in heaven, thank you. I don't know what I did, or what I have done to make you continually bless me and answer all my prayers.
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Above pic shows me trying to catch a glimpse of my son seconds after he was born and placed in my arms. It took me the whole of two minutes to push him out. I recorded it and I've watched the video over and over again in wonder. I thought I would be in the labour room for hours especially because of my age and how people say the older you get, the harder it is to give birth but my son was placed in my arms exactly 2mins 19secs after I began to push. .
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I saw many comments on here of people praying I deliver like the Hebrew women and your prayers were answered. My delivery went so well. I can't wait to go through this journey of pregnancy and child birth again. By far the most amazing experience of my life. And the guys at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta are the best. . I'll recommend them. .
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Thank you guys for all the birthday wishes. God bless you and yours and I hope everything you ask God for, He gives to you. May blessings never cease in your life. Amen. Kisses.
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By the way, I did something crazily crazy for my baby boy. You will hear about it soon!. My mum has been giving me and my dad bad eyes since. Hahaha

Man dressed like a king and sat on a throne at his wake keeping (photos)


A dead man was dressed like a king, complete with a crown, and sat on a throne at his wake keeping and the creepy photos are going viral.
In the photos shared online, the dead man was dressed in all red and a golden crown was placed on his head. He sat on a gold throne in a red background, surrounded by red roses.
He was given pride of place at the front of the hall while family members and friends went up one after the other to sit beside him and say their tributes to him.
Dressing dead people and propping them up to look alive at their wake is fast becoming a trend. Only two months ago, a dead teenager was dressed and propped up to look like he was playing a video game at his lying in state

''Nigerians voted Buhari but cabal is ruling them'' - Saraki


Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has once again condemned the leadership style of President Buhari.
While speaking with PDP delegates in Oyo state yesterday September 18th, Saraki who has since declared his intention to run for president on the platform of the PDP in 2019, said Nigerians who voted President Buhari in 2015 had been shortchanged as it was a few people who constitute themselves as a cabal, are the ones running the afairs of the country.
''The President we have now does not understand leadership. We have endured him for more than three years but it is the same thing. Nigerians voted for him (Buhari) but a cabal is ruling the country. That is not what democracy means. This time, let us look for who can do it. In Nigeria today, we do not have unity. What we need in the present world is a digital President. When your president sits with world presidents, he should be able to understand what they are saying. That is why presidents who have visited the country did not stay more than a few hours. But when they know that their host understands them, they will stay longer and explore investment opportunities in Nigeria.” he said

Oyo State government shuts down Obasanjo Farms and 15 other businesses (Photos)


On Tuesday, the Oyo State Government shut down the business premises of Obasanjo Farms, located at Oluyole Industrial Estate, Ibadan and MRS Oil in Ibadan, the state capital city as part of its continued exercise to get companies and corporate organisations to pay their environmental levies.
According to reports, Obasanjo farm is one of the sixteen business organisations that were sealed for defaulting in the payment of the environmental development levy due to the state government.
The exercise, which began on Monday, was carried out by the combined task force teams of the Oyo State Inter-ministerial Enforcement Unit and coordinated by the Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue which saw branches of some banks also sealed.
Locations visited by the task force team included: Dugbe, Eleyele, Podo, Challenge and Onireke areas of the state capital. Some of the other firms affected in the seal up by the task force team on Tuesday included Black Horse, Heinemann Educational Books, Lister Flour Mills, and University Press Limited.
Others were Evans Brother, Brooking House, Group Medical hospital at Mokola, Butterfield bakery, Chicken Republic and Rasmed publicity.
Chairman, Oyo state Board of Internal Revenue (OYBIR), Bicci Alli, while speaking said the exercise became inevitable due to the failure of the affected firms to comply with the state tax laws after series of formal communication failed. Alli stressed that the enforcement will be continuous, warning that all corporate organizations in the state must do the needful and be corporately responsible in line with the laws of the land.
He said “the exercise was not something new and not outside the law. It is within the law. We went to restrain some corporate organizations that failed to pay what is due to Oyo state government after giving due notices, demand notices and even public notices to that effect and they failed to pay.

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