Former President Goodluck Johnathan only conceded defeat after the 2015 elections because he knew the nation would witness economic recession soon, minister of works, Fashola, has revealed.

Former President Goodluck Johnathan only conceded defeat after the 2015 elections because he knew the nation would witness economic recession soon, minister of works, Fashola, has revealed.



Speaking at a South-west town hall meeting, Fashola added that Jonathan only relinquished power because he wanted to avoid being at the helm of affairs during the recession.



According to Premiumtimes, Fashola revealed the Goodluck government not only plunged the nation into recession but pushed it into debts.



What was left behind were massive debts owed to contractors who had not been paid for three to five years and who had laid off thousands of workers and shut down equipment and plants. That was one of the reasons why the economy first went into, and, I suspect, one of the reasons they (Goodluck administration) quickly conceded defeat,” he said.



Goodluck Jonathan's aide, Reno Omokri has however reacted to Fashola's statement saying, 'who knows a good psychiatrist that can help Fashola with the mental challenges he is facing? How can he say Jonathan accepted defeat due to imminent recession? These men are so irresponsible that they can’t accept responsibility for the recession they caused'.

New Batch Of Stranded Nigerians Return From Libya

The National Emergency Management Agency has received another batch of 149 stranded Nigerians from Libya yesterday.



The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the returnees arrived at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at about 1.20am on Friday.

They were brought back in a Buraq Airlines Boeing 737-8000 aircraft with registration number 5A-DMG by the International Organisation for Migration under its Assisted Voluntary Return Programme.

Spokesperson for NEMA, South West Zone, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said the majority of the returnees came back from Tripoli, the capital city of the volatile North African country.

Farinloye said they comprised of 81 adult males, 56 adult females, two male children, eight male infants, one female child and two female infants.
Punch/NAN

UK Fines Facebook £500,000 For Failing To Protect User Data

Facebook has been fined £500,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, after allowing third party developers to access user information without sufficient consent.





The ICO announcement on Thursday upholds its initial decision in July. The fine, which represents a drop in the ocean for a company that brought in $40.7bn (£31.5bn) in global revenue in 2017, was the maximum available to the regulator under old data protection legislation.


The ICO found that the personal information of at least 1 million UK users was among harvested data and was consequently put at risk of further misuse. It also insisted that the company could have faced a substantially higher fine of up to £1.2bn under the new regulatory system.


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The investigation found that Facebook failed to keep the personal information of its users secure by failing to make suitable checks on developers using its platform.


These failings meant one developer, Aleksandr Kogan, was able to convince 300,000 people to install a personality testing application that fed back the Facebook data of both users and their friends, enabling him to harvest the profiles of up to 87 million people worldwide without their knowledge.


A subset of the data was later shared with other organisations, including SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, which was involved in running targeted Facebook adverts in US political contests, only to collapse earlier this year following a series of reports by the Observer.


Facebook, which has the right to appeal the verdict, said: “We are currently reviewing the ICO’s decision. While we respectfully disagree with some of their findings, we have said before that we should have done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica and taken action in 2015. We are grateful that the ICO has acknowledged our full cooperation throughout their investigation, and have also confirmed they have found no evidence to suggest UK Facebook users’ data was in fact shared with Cambridge Analytica.”
From the guardian UK

BREAKING!!!!! *IGP Idris invites Akwa Ibom State Governor's Campaign team to Abuja for questioning today over petition by State APC Chairman.

Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel has elected to lead his team of Campaign Coordinators to the Inspector General of Police who summoned them and accused them of various misdemeanours based on a petition by the All Progressive Congress Chairman in the State, Ini  Okopido sent to the President Muhammadu Buhari that he quickly minuted to his Chief of Staff who, in line with orders, minuted to IGP for immediate investigation.

The issue here borders on destruction of Buhari's Presidential campaign billboards in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State , a charge PDP and the Environment Commissioner have denied and clarified. The general plank for the invitation, according to the police, openly revolve around instigation to cause violence.

All the persons invited by the Inspector General of Police curiously are the key officers of Udom Emmanuel  Devine Mandate Organisation, the vehicle for Udom's reaction.

Those invited to appear today are the Chairperson of Divine Mandate, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga, a retired Nigerian AirForce personal, former head of the Presidential Air Fleet and former Military Administrator of Akwa Ibom State.

 Also invited by the IGP for questioning is the People's Democratic Party Chairman in the State Paul Ekpo, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly Onofiok Luke, the Commissioner for Environment Dr. Iniobong Essien, the Senior Special Assistant on Security Fubara Duke, the Chairman of Uyo Local Government Council and the Chairman of the Uyo Market Association.

" A security agency established by law has invited us so we have to honour. We obey laws here. It started with the billboard issue and the IGP sent a team from Abuja that investigated and even detained the Commissioner for Environment for no just cause.Is this their concept to intimidate and take over Akwa Ibom State that they have been orchestrating and boasting about ? Acceptability is at the polls. Let's go there. We are ready", a ranking government official in the State said before they boarded an aircraft to Abuja.

"The APC conducted their governorship primaries in this State and three persons were killed, no petitions, no investigations, no arrest, no prosecution. As a fallout from the primaries, a police station was burnt in Okobo Local Government Area, and other sundry but weighty infractions, yet the police looked at the left and ignored the incidences at the right even with photo evidence and outcries", he said.

Poem of the day: Pieces of the past by Gideon Nwaikwu

Photocredit :Musa Takurah.

-------pieces of the past-------

:;

There is a place for the past. ,
Flooded in time, and fleeting distance.,
Where  sad realities fade  fast.,
Like music's sodding resonance.

::

There is the grief for the past. ,
Though hidden from the eye.,
Were  fake smiles stood  against the blast.,
of one and only life.,

:;

There is a feeling for the past. ,
That impatient autumnal feverish feeling. ,
Were what will love meet what we lost. ,
With one drop of tear and sighing.,

:;

There are regrets from the past. ,
i dare not talk of it.,
For the heart we bare is but a bag.,
that hides our saddest thought.

:;

There is no end to sad things. ,
Beneath the wicked sun.,
Sweet things  must rest in peace. ,
For sweeter things to be born.,

:;

but the past knows too many sad story. .
on its sullen shelves.,
Were  forlorn library's history .,
Have set men against themselves.

:;

   "The past breathes"

Governor Emmanuel’s aide resigns, leaves PDP

Idorenyin Esikot, a special assistant to Governor Udom Emmanuel on small and medium scale entrepreneur, has resigned his appointment with the Akwa Ibom state government.

Mr Esikot resigned in September.

He is one of six aides that have so far left the administration, ahead of the 2019 general elections which is expected to be a tough battle between the ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

One of the aides, Anietie Ebe, who resigned early in September, told PREMIUM TIMES that many of the governor’s aides would likely leave the administration before the general elections.

“I had to resign because there was no support from anywhere,” Mr Esikot said.

“Of course, you’ll need basic tools to work with. You don’t have an office. You don’t even have a chair to sit on,” he said, adding that he sometimes had to hold government meetings at his former office at the University of Uyo, or in some eateries in the city.

Most times he had to spend personal money to buy drinks and snacks for local business people he invited for government meetings, he said.

“Apart from my salary, I have never been given a dime by the state government. And the government didn’t for one day respond to all the proposals I presented to them,” he said

When asked if he had ever reported to the government that he did not have an office space to operate from, Mr Esikot responded, “It wasn’t something peculiar to me; almost 90 per cent of the governor’s aides had the same problem.”

The former aide to the governor said the state of businesses in Akwa Ibom is “pitiable” because, according to him, “the things that ought to have been done have not been done”.I keep asking the questions, how many heavy trucks depart Akwa Ibom for other states? You won’t find goods produced in Akwa Ibom move to other states, the reverse is the case.

“And when, for instance, you say you are empowering small and medium scale businesses and then you take N50, 000 and give it to market people.

“When you leave people in the real sector, I mean the small and medium scale businesses and empower the petty traders, you will still have the problem of capital flight because those money will still go out to other states for the purchase of goods and services,” he said.

He identified “lack of head starts for indigenous entrepreneurs” as one of the key challenges facing the growth of businesses in Akwa Ibom.

“It does not make sense for you not to promote what you have. It’s embarrassing sometimes when you go to public functions hosted by agencies of government and something as small as bottled water is imported from other states, while we have several indigenous producers of bottled water in the state.

“Why not patronise them? How do you want them to stand up?” he said.

Mr Esikot said he has left PDP and has since gone back to his former job as a lecturer in the department of philosophy, University of Uyo.
Sourced from Premium Times

Lai Mohammed Denies Issuing Ultimatum To Israel Over Nnamdi Kanu

MINISTER of Information Lai Mohammed yesterday denied the report that he gave Israel ultimatum over the return of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria.





Kanu, who resurfaced in Israel at the weekend, threatened to unleash hell on Nigerians.

Briefing State House correspondents, Mohammed said: “I was in London when I heard the story about Nnamdi Kanu surfacing in Israel. I was not in a position to make any statement.

“But before I knew it, within a few hours, I saw my picture with a story saying that I had actually given Israel ultimatum to return Nnamdi Kanu otherwise, we will send them missiles.

“I just laughed. It speaks to what we are talking about fake news because it is probably the biggest threat in the run-up to the elections.

“Having said that, I have nothing more to add to the issue of Nnamdi Kanu.”

He said the appropriate authorities in the country would speak on the issue at the appropriate time.

He said: “At the appropriate time, the various authorities will make a statement about the issue of Kanu.

“But this has proven that all along when Kanu disappeared and the mob was asking the Nigerian Army to account for the whereabouts of Kanu; I kept saying that Kanu knows where he is.

“He was not in the custody of the Federal Government. We have been vindicated today. Any other statement will be made in due course.”from the nationonline