Written by Akintolu Ibrahim
** The biggest corruption and fraud in Nigeria since Independence,
this is the reason Lagos’s debt is bigger than the whole of S/west,
S/East, N/East and N/Central states together.
The massive looting of Lagos state by the Leader of the Action
Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has reached monumental
proportion. Tinubu whose companies recently cornered a multi billion
road construction job in Ogun State, has in his pocket all the juicy
contract in all the Action Congress’ states.
In retrospect, it might be difficult to come to terms with the fact that
an individual could hold the entire south west to ransom. There is no
doubt that Tinubu has succeeded in buying the Lagos State government,
and he has done this using government funds.
.
Whenever someone in Lagos begins to wonder where their 4th mainland
bridge went, or what was the fate of the pipe-borne water project, or
even where the schools and hospitals had vanished to, there is a silence
that contains it all. The largest landlord in Lagos has done as he has
pleased, and the rest of the state just has to deal with it. For
instance: Number 4, Oyinkan Abayomi (formerly Queens) Drive, Ikoyi: A
5-bedroom detached house on one acre of land which was originally the
Lagos State Governor’s guest house since 1979, but which now belongs to
Tinubu. The certificate of occupancy of the property valued at N450
million was signed and released to him by Fashola in 2007 shortly after
he assumed office.
Tinubu’s residence at 26 Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi was initially falsely
presented as Oando Plc Guest House. Later, he purportedly bought it from
Oando, and used public funds to rebuild and renovate it. The Lagos
State Government bought the property and paid an undisclosed sum to him
and thereafter gave the property back to him under the bogus Pension
Bill he signed to law shortly before he left office in 2007. The
property is worth over N600 million.
The annex of the Lagos State Guest House in Asokoro, Abuja was bought by
the State Government in 2006 for N450 million, purportedly to protect
the main house from security breach. Shortly after Tinubu left office,
the property was transferred to him under the pension plan he signed
into law before leaving office.
The 250-hectare land valued at about N35billion and strategically
located at the Ajah junction on Lekki Road was initially meant for a
General Hospital for the people of Eti-Osa Local Government but was
stolen by Tinubu and handed over to Trojan Estate Ltd – a company owned
by Deji and Wale Tinubu – to develop as Royal Garden Housing Estate at
the expense of the taxpayers of Lagos
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
UPHILL TASK FOR ATHLETICO AGAINST OLD LADY
A SURPRISE 3-2 loss to Olympiacos on matchday one has heaped extra
significance on to Atletico Madrid’s home Champions League encounter
with Juventus tomorrow night.
Consequently, a defeat against the Italian champions at the Vicente
Calderon would leave Diego Simeone’s men, who reached last season’s
final in Lisbon, facing an uphill challenge to advance beyond the group
stages.
Since being beaten in Greece, Atletico have been in positive form
domestically, winning two and drawing one of their three La Liga
encounters.
Simeone has a near fully fit squad to select from following the
return to action from a facial injury of Croatian striker Mario
Mandzukic at the weekend. Elsewhere, summer signing Antoine Griezmann
has been primarily used as a substitute this season, but the French
international may well start.
As for visiting Juve, Roberto Pereyra will be available again
following a suspension and he could replace Arturo Vidal, who is
expected to be rested because of his ongoing knee problems. Andrea
Pirlo, Andrea Barzagli and Martin Caceres will also miss out with injury
complaints.
The Old Lady have made 20 previous trips to Spain, but have won
there on just three occasions - the last of which came in the Bernabeu
as a brace from Alessandro Del Piero downed Atletico’s city rivals Real
Madrid
Golden Eaglets beat Congo to qualify for African U-17 Championships
Nigeria’s U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets, are through to next year’s
African U-17 Championships scheduled to take place in Niger Republic as
the Eaglets thrashed their counterparts from Congo5-0 on Saturday at the
UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar.
The result was more than good enough for the Eaglets who only lost
2-1 in the reverse fixture a fortnight ago as they pulled through by a
6-2 aggregate score line.
The comprehensive win by the Nigerian youngsters was understandably
heart warming for the fans in Calabar as well as Coach Emmanuel Amuneke
who has persistently stayed positive that his lads would qualify despite
their first leg defeat.
In Saturday’s thrilling encounter, it was Captain Kelechi Nwakali
that secured the opener for the Eaglets scoring from the penalty spot
with barely two minutes into the game.
That was the needed tonic for the Eaglets who were all over their
opponents and increased their lead through Ebere Osinachi who made it
two for Nigeria and added another one before half time.
The Eaglets were far from done as they added two more goals in the
second half, both goals coming from substitute Kehinde Ayinde who made
sure that the Eaglets seal their place at next year’s cadet
Championships in neighbouring Niger with a 6-2 aggregate score line
Sporting Lisbon 0 Chelsea 1: Matic returns to haunt old rivals
Nemanja Matic scored on his return to Lisbon to earn Chelsea a 1-0 UEFA Champions League win over Sporting on Tuesday.
The former Benfica man spent three years in the Portuguese capital with Sporting’s great rivals before returning to Chelsea in January.
And the Serbia international scored the only goal of the Group G encounter when he headed home in the 34th minute.
Matic found the net in a half dominated by the visitors, but the home side proved more competitive after the break to leave the result in doubt up until the final whistle.
The result sees Chelsea bounce back from their matchday one draw with Schalke at Stamford Bridge, while Sporting, who had previously lost just one of nine home fixtures against English opposition, will rue the end of an unbeaten run at Estadio Jose Alvalade that stretched to 16 matches in European competition.
Having previously claimed in-form frontman Diego Costa was incapable of playing multiple matches in a week, Jose Mourinho named the Spain international in his starting XI for the second time in four days, while captain John Terry made his 100th Champions League outing.
UCL Results:
CSKA Moscow 0 – 1 Bayern Munich
Manchester City 1 – 1 Roma
APOEL Nicosia 1 – 1 Ajax
Paris Saint Germain 3 – 2 Barcelona
Schalke 04 1 – 1 Maribor
Sporting CP 0 – 1 Chelsea
BATE Borisov 2 – 1 Athletic Bilbao
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 – 2 FC Porto
The former Benfica man spent three years in the Portuguese capital with Sporting’s great rivals before returning to Chelsea in January.
And the Serbia international scored the only goal of the Group G encounter when he headed home in the 34th minute.
Matic found the net in a half dominated by the visitors, but the home side proved more competitive after the break to leave the result in doubt up until the final whistle.
The result sees Chelsea bounce back from their matchday one draw with Schalke at Stamford Bridge, while Sporting, who had previously lost just one of nine home fixtures against English opposition, will rue the end of an unbeaten run at Estadio Jose Alvalade that stretched to 16 matches in European competition.
Having previously claimed in-form frontman Diego Costa was incapable of playing multiple matches in a week, Jose Mourinho named the Spain international in his starting XI for the second time in four days, while captain John Terry made his 100th Champions League outing.
UCL Results:
CSKA Moscow 0 – 1 Bayern Munich
Manchester City 1 – 1 Roma
APOEL Nicosia 1 – 1 Ajax
Paris Saint Germain 3 – 2 Barcelona
Schalke 04 1 – 1 Maribor
Sporting CP 0 – 1 Chelsea
BATE Borisov 2 – 1 Athletic Bilbao
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 – 2 FC Porto
Saturday, April 11, 2009
ARE WE IN THE SAME BOAT?
Today in the world there is something that has been going on for a long time which if not stopped, could lead us all to armaggedon. It no false alarm but a genuine concern as a citizen of the world observing how man is, through his Me, I and Myself philosophy attempting to disrupt the order of things in the universe.
One fact noted is that the people of the so-called third world have a problem and that is a problem fuelled, controlled and managed either from the White House, Downing Street and other such corridors of power.
Africans are often accused of being an accursed people who cannot rule themselves: examples abound from the North to the South of the Continent. When the Middle East is added to it, it is mind-boggling. However, it is always the voice of Jacob but the hand of Esau.
When African rulers steal their peoples' money, more often than not, such money is kept in the West. Those in the West often accuse our leaders of fraud and other like vices but our people say the thief is not the one who actually stole but the one who act as the keeper of the stolen item. If that is the case those who depend on stolen wealth for the development of their economies do not have the right to accuse the fraudsters of defrauding their citizens when they know that the fund kept with them by our leaders are definitely stolen fund.
Secondly, most of these rulers visit the West and their children are studying in the West. Knowing that these people are in a position to make the educational advancement of their people better, why, if one may ask, do they encourage them to send their wards in their country to study?
Moreso, our health facilities are nothing to write home about while they (our rulers ) have access to state-of-the-art facilities abroad. Though one cannot blame those who own these hospitals for providing these facilities but life is all about what goes round comes round. You don't understand? Okay let's go.
When I was young, I observed that gates were meant to keep stray animals away but today, check all the high brow areas and see for yourself. You often wonder whether those behind the gates are in prison with the high walls, dogs and security paraphernalia behind which they live. Does it have to get that bad?
Secondly, the rate at which citizens of the first world get deprived of their hard-earned funds is a reflection of the failure of their leaders to help the third world countries fight corruption through making it difficult for markedly-corrupt leaders to get to positions of power instead of allowing their multinational corporations fund their election campaigns only for the filthy lucre they are likely to get after getting into positions of power.
Thirdly, the issue of terrorism needs to be addressed. These people are neither Christian nor Muslim terrorist: they are protesting against a system that they see as stifling to them which makes it impossible for them to realize their individual potentials.
All in all, there is the need to de-emphasize the philosophy of Me, I and Myself and focus more on providing others with happiness so that we ourselves in return might be made happy.
To them that have ears, Let them hear!
One fact noted is that the people of the so-called third world have a problem and that is a problem fuelled, controlled and managed either from the White House, Downing Street and other such corridors of power.
Africans are often accused of being an accursed people who cannot rule themselves: examples abound from the North to the South of the Continent. When the Middle East is added to it, it is mind-boggling. However, it is always the voice of Jacob but the hand of Esau.
When African rulers steal their peoples' money, more often than not, such money is kept in the West. Those in the West often accuse our leaders of fraud and other like vices but our people say the thief is not the one who actually stole but the one who act as the keeper of the stolen item. If that is the case those who depend on stolen wealth for the development of their economies do not have the right to accuse the fraudsters of defrauding their citizens when they know that the fund kept with them by our leaders are definitely stolen fund.
Secondly, most of these rulers visit the West and their children are studying in the West. Knowing that these people are in a position to make the educational advancement of their people better, why, if one may ask, do they encourage them to send their wards in their country to study?
Moreso, our health facilities are nothing to write home about while they (our rulers ) have access to state-of-the-art facilities abroad. Though one cannot blame those who own these hospitals for providing these facilities but life is all about what goes round comes round. You don't understand? Okay let's go.
When I was young, I observed that gates were meant to keep stray animals away but today, check all the high brow areas and see for yourself. You often wonder whether those behind the gates are in prison with the high walls, dogs and security paraphernalia behind which they live. Does it have to get that bad?
Secondly, the rate at which citizens of the first world get deprived of their hard-earned funds is a reflection of the failure of their leaders to help the third world countries fight corruption through making it difficult for markedly-corrupt leaders to get to positions of power instead of allowing their multinational corporations fund their election campaigns only for the filthy lucre they are likely to get after getting into positions of power.
Thirdly, the issue of terrorism needs to be addressed. These people are neither Christian nor Muslim terrorist: they are protesting against a system that they see as stifling to them which makes it impossible for them to realize their individual potentials.
All in all, there is the need to de-emphasize the philosophy of Me, I and Myself and focus more on providing others with happiness so that we ourselves in return might be made happy.
To them that have ears, Let them hear!
Before the Alarm
It is certain that the alarm will blow one day but it is pertinent to warn those in the corridors of power of the danger inherent in the future so that we shall not be caught unawares by the future.
Today, it is more difficult than ever for the common man to live- his children cannot go to a school where the future is assured since most of our public schools which produced him and gave him hope his future has virtually collapsed and most of the chop-I-chop private schools they attend cannot guarantee quality education.
Secondly when he or any of his dependants become ill as a result of the absence of quality food which is due to the fact that his take home pay cannot take him beyond the gate of his employer, the hospital that he depends on is one which even his rulers feel cannot be depended on since they have a better alternative overseas.
The cost of transportation has eaten so deep into his pocket that what little is left cannot buy him the least of comforts while he only is blessed with body aches after each "journey" to and fro his place of employment due to the deplorable state of our roads.
At night, there is yet no respite because PHCN, which is a leech depriving us of some of the little money made from oil only supplies darkness while waiting till the end of the month to collect money for services not rendered with the government budgetting billions for the purchase of generating sets and powering them in a country where we have decided to make PHCN a conduit pipe.
It is only in Naijaland that we do not obey the law of gravity. I am innocent, economically, geographically and mathematically but I had thought with the price of oil selling for around a third of its price in August, the pump price of petrol should have been reduced while we need to have answers to the question of what happened to the billions of dollars set aside for turning round our refineries which has turned them and turned them round making a 360 degree turning from where it started to where it started.
In view of the fact that some people are dying of hunger while some are dying of "tummytuck", there are certainly more questions than answers and it is just a matter of time before the alarm blows. To them that have ears, Let them hear!
Today, it is more difficult than ever for the common man to live- his children cannot go to a school where the future is assured since most of our public schools which produced him and gave him hope his future has virtually collapsed and most of the chop-I-chop private schools they attend cannot guarantee quality education.
Secondly when he or any of his dependants become ill as a result of the absence of quality food which is due to the fact that his take home pay cannot take him beyond the gate of his employer, the hospital that he depends on is one which even his rulers feel cannot be depended on since they have a better alternative overseas.
The cost of transportation has eaten so deep into his pocket that what little is left cannot buy him the least of comforts while he only is blessed with body aches after each "journey" to and fro his place of employment due to the deplorable state of our roads.
At night, there is yet no respite because PHCN, which is a leech depriving us of some of the little money made from oil only supplies darkness while waiting till the end of the month to collect money for services not rendered with the government budgetting billions for the purchase of generating sets and powering them in a country where we have decided to make PHCN a conduit pipe.
It is only in Naijaland that we do not obey the law of gravity. I am innocent, economically, geographically and mathematically but I had thought with the price of oil selling for around a third of its price in August, the pump price of petrol should have been reduced while we need to have answers to the question of what happened to the billions of dollars set aside for turning round our refineries which has turned them and turned them round making a 360 degree turning from where it started to where it started.
In view of the fact that some people are dying of hunger while some are dying of "tummytuck", there are certainly more questions than answers and it is just a matter of time before the alarm blows. To them that have ears, Let them hear!
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