Jonathan Fires SURE-P Boss, Martin Luther Agwai, For Attending Obasanjo’s Birthday Event

President Goodluck Jonathan has fired Martin-Luther Agwai as the head of his government’s intervention unit, SURE-P. Mr. Agwai is a respected former Defence Chief, who led United Nation missions in Sudan, amidst other career runs.

Mr. Agwai was appointed by Mr. Jonathan to head SURE-P, a department created by the government to deploy saved fuel subsidy money for the provision of critical infrastructure and jobs. In a statement Tuesday, presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, named Ishaya Dare Akau as the new head of SURE-P, Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme.

The new SURE-P Chairman hails from Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State and holds Bachelors’ Degrees in the Arts and Law. Mr. Akau comes to the job with years of experience as a high-level administrator in the nation’s public service. His record of service includes tenures as Chairman of the Kaduna State Universal Education Board and Chairman of the National Assembly Service Commission.

The presidency did not give any reason for Mr. Agwai’s removal, beyond saying it was “in furtherance of his efforts to continuously re-energize and reposition agencies of the Federal Government for optimal service delivery”.

But PREMIUM TIMES understands reliably that Mr. Agwai was fired for flouting a presidential instruction that no government official or member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, should attend the birthday event of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, last week.

Mr. Jonathan and the former president have been locked in a longstanding row which has seen Mr. Obasanjo repeatedly criticise the president publicly.

The spat climaxed three weeks ago when Mr. Obasanjo quit the party and publicly tore his membership card.

Sources within the presidency told PREMIUM TIMES that all government functionaries were instructed by President Jonathan to boycott Mr. Obasanjo’s birthday event.

Our sources said when informed of the president’s warning, Mr. Agwai, who climbed to the pinnacle of his career under the Obasanjo administration, said he will go ahead and attend the function, more so, in view of the president’s directive.

Our sources said for daring the president, it was clear Mr. Agwai would be fired.

One source said it appears Mr. Agwai was informed ahead of the announcement of his removal Tuesday, as the former defence chief arrived early at the SURE-P office to pack his belongings.

Mr. Agwai himself replaced Christopher Kolade, who left office after criticising the president.

PHOTOS: Vehicles & weapons captured from Boko Haram in Adamawa

Here are exclusive photos of vehicles and weapons captured from the encounter with Boko Haram members yesterday March 9th at Gombi LGA of Adamawa state. The militants attacked the community early yesterday but were repelled by Nigerian troops.

See more pictures below...

Jonathan fires Sure-P Chairman Gen Agwai, announces replacement

President Jonathan this afternoon fired the Chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd.) pictured above. A statement by Reuben Abati says Ishaya Dare Akau, a high-level administrator in the nation’s public service is to replace Gen. Agwai with immediate effect. Reuben Abati's statement below

 In furtherance of his efforts to continuously re-energize and reposition agencies of the Federal Government for optimal service delivery, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has appointed Mr. Ishaya Dare Akau as the new Chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

Mr. Akau, whose appointment takes immediate effect, replaces Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd.) who served as Chairman of the SURE-P until today.

The new SURE-P Chairman hails from Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State and holds Bachelors’ Degrees in the Arts and Law. Mr. Akau comes to the job with years of experience as a high-level administrator in the nation’s public service.

His record of service includes tenures as Chairman of the Kaduna State Universal Education Board and Chairman of the National Assembly Service Commission. President Jonathan thanks the outgoing Chairman of SURE-P, Gen Agwai for his service to the nation and wishes him well in his future endeavours.

Reuben Abati Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity)
March 10, 2015

PDP Governors Storm Lagos.

Akpabio and Fayose

Many PDP governors are currently in Lagos. They came into Lagos yesterday. Those in Lagos include; Ekiti state governor Ayo Fayose, Ondo state governor OluSegun Mimiko, Niger state governor Babangida Aliyu, Katsina state governor Shehu Shema - GombeState governor Ibrahim Dankwambo, Akwa-Ibom state governor Godswill Akpabio, Cross River state gover Liyel Imoke, and a few others.

The governors are said to be in town to strategize on how to win the South West in the upcoming elections.

First solar-powered plane begins flight

A Swiss solar-powered plane has taken off from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates marking the start of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel, Al Jazeera reports.


The Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Andre Borschberg of Switzerland, took off at 7.12am local time (0412 GMT) on Monday from the UAE’s Al-Bateen airport and headed to Muscat, the capital of Oman, where it is expected to land later after the first leg of the journey.

The developers said the aim was to create awareness about replacing “old polluting technologies with clean and efficient technologies”

Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse co-founder, was at the controls of the single-seater when it took off from the Al Bateen airport in the UAE on Monday morning.

The take-off, which was originally scheduled for Saturday but delayed due to high winds, capped 13 years of research and testing by Borschberg and fellow Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard.

The pilot would take turns to fly the plane around the world and switch seats during stopovers.


The plane at the Abu Dhabi’s airport… on Monday. Photo: AFP

Two hours and 15 minutes into the flight, Borschberg was 13 per cent of the way to Muscat and attempting to give media interviews before calling his wife, according to a website monitoring his progress.

Shortly before take-off, Borschberg, 63, said on Twitter that the “challenge to come is real for me and the airplane”.

“This project is a human project, it is a human challenge,” Borschberg said on Sunday.

The wingspan of the one-seater plane, known as the Si2, is slightly bigger than that of a jumbo jet, but its weight is around that of a family car.

From Muscat, it will make 12 stops on an epic journey spread over five months, with a total flight time of around 25 days.

It will cross the Arabian Sea to India before heading on to Myanmar, China, Hawaii and New York.

Landings are also earmarked for the midwestern US and either southern Europe or North Africa, depending on weather conditions.

The longest single leg will see a lone pilot fly non-stop for five days across the Pacific Ocean between Nanjing, China and Hawaii, a distance of 8,500km.

Borschberg and Piccard will alternate stints flying the plane, which can hold only one person, with the aircraft able to fly on autopilot during rest breaks.

The pilots have undergone intensive training in preparation for the trip, including in yoga and self-hypnosis, allowing them to sleep for periods as short as 20 minutes but awaken feeling refreshed.

All this will happen without burning a drop of fuel.

The pilots will be linked to a control centre in Monaco where 65 weathermen, air traffic controllers and engineers will be stationed. A team of 65 support staff will travel with the two pilots.

Should a problem occur while sleeping, the ground staff can wake up the pilot.

“We want to share our vision of a clean future,” Piccard, 57, who is chairman of Solar Impulse, said of the mission.

“Climate change is a fantastic opportunity to bring in the market new green technologies that save energy, save natural resources of our planet, make profit, create jobs, and sustain growth.”

The pilots’ idea was ridiculed by the aviation industry when it was first unveiled.

But Piccard, who hails from a family of scientist-adventurers and who in 1999 became the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a hot air balloon, clung to his belief that clean technology and renewable energy “can achieve the impossible”.

The plane is powered by more than 17,000 solar cells built into wings that, at 236ft, are longer than a jumbo and approaching that of an Airbus A380 superjumbo.

Thanks to an innovative design, the lightweight carbon fibre aircraft weighs only 2.3 tonnes, about the same as a family 4×4 and less than one percent of the weight of the A380.

The Si2 is the first solar-powered aircraft able to stay aloft for several days and nights.

AIT Received N10 Billion For Damaging Documentaries

AIT Received N10 Billion For Damaging Documentaries On Opposition Leaders Yemi Osinbajo Is Its Next Target

African Independent Television (AIT) owners received N10 billion to produce and air negative documentaries on leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a SaharaReporters investigation shows.

SaharaReporters learnt that the Minister for Petroleum Affairs, Diezani Allison-Madueke is bankrolling the documentary while the scripts and voice overs are being prepared and cut with the help of the Nigeria Television Authority and some Nollywood production companies and working for President Jonathan's re-election.



As a result of the massive deal, AIT, which was in poor financial shape that its principal owner, Raymond Dokpesi, had decided to sell it to the banks to which the station owed several billions of Naira, is now back in good standing. It has also become considerably bolder because of the backing of Mrs. Allison-Madueke and other powerful government officials behind the deal.

Our investigation reveals that AIT receives N5 million each time an episode of any of the documentaries is aired on their channels in different Nigerian markets.

Apart from the cost of producing and airing the documentaries, SaharaReporters found that a team of high-priced lawyers has also been mobilized with about N3 billion to handle any legal threats that may arise from the documentaries. Just last week, APC chieftain Bola Tinubu sued AIT over the documentary on him.

SaharaReporters learned that the next in the series will focus on the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

Our source, who didn't want to reveal the content, said the objective of that show will be to “destroy” Prof. Osinbajo's position as a strong moral leader in the Christian community.

"The idea is to make the Christians who have left Jonathan because of Osinbajo's entry into the Presidential race to have a rethink," our source stated.

“The PDP is still failing the basic mathematics,” a political analyst told SaharaReporters. “They can squander all of the money in the Central Bank trying to damage the reputation of everyone in the opposition, but how does that provide a cover for the ineptitude and corruption of the Goodluck Jonathan government? Does that explain why Nigeria is far worse than they found it? That is the question Nigerians will be answering when they go to the polls in three weeks.”

Source : Sahara 

Photo: Govs Fashola & Okorocha pull each other's ears in playful embrace

APC Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo state and Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state pictured playing around at a function...

Fire outbreak in Ibafo, burn 2 year old to death, fire caused by stored petrol

A 2 year old child was burnt to death this morning after fire broke out at his parents home in Ibafo, Ogun state. A resident in the area said the fire started after gallons of petrol stored in the compound by a neighbour ignited due to heat in the area. The woman who was alleging selling the fuel ran after the incident. The fire razed the whole building and shops around. See more photos.........

 

Source : Channels news 

Woman sets fire to $30,000 cash hidden in the family stove

A Chinese woman named Hao Bin, 35, accidentally set fire to £20,000 cash that was hidden in the family cooking stove. The money, which was meant for her husband's staff salary, was hidden in the wood-burning stove by the woman herself but forgot she'd put it there when she went there to make a pot of tea. 

Her husband had given her the money for safe keeping the night before, but the next morning, Mrs Bin threw a lighted march on the stove to boil water for tea. The burnt money pictured above

She only realized her grave error after she smelt the burnt money and saw the plastic bag filled with Chinese bank notes. She threw water on what was left of the cash, but it was too late...everything was gone!

According to local media reports, the devastated woman took the charred remains of the money to the Bank of China t see if they could do anything for her, but was told that they couldn't exchange the notes since only less than half of each note was left

Reacting, the husband, Mr bin (pictured above), said he'd forgiven his wife for the error

"We had not been paid ourselves yet for our work, but I needed to pay the workers so we borrowed the money from friends and family, and we wanted somewhere to keep it safe for a day before paying it out. It was a hard blow, and my wife is devastated. But I have forgiven her, and we will survive.'

It's common for Chinese people to hide their money at home - in pillows and socks instead of keeping it at the bank. Most of them don't trust their banks..

Photos: Kim Kardashian poses nude in new episode of KUWTK

In a new Keeping Up With The Kardashians trailer, Kim is seen posing completely nude during a photo shoot. She tells the camera that she’s doing it in case she gets pregnant again so she can capture her body before she gets fat…

“If I get pregnant again soon, my body is going to totally transform. So, I’m doing this photo shoot today naked.I just want to capture my body and have these photos to last forever” See another photos after the cut…

Baby found alive in river 14 hours after car crash, mum found dead in driver's seat

An 18-month-old baby girl was found alive in a car more than 14 hours after the vehicle plunged into a river in Utah, USA. The girl was discovered hanging upside down above water in her car seat by a fisherman on Saturday afternoon, police told reporters. The child's mother 25yr old Lynn Groesbeck was found dead in the driver's seat. And some people don't believe that God exists!

The little girl was rushed to a hospital in Salt Lake City, where her condition has been upgraded from critical to stable.

The car pictured above. Police say they think the car careered into the Spanish Fork River after striking a cement barrier on Friday night. A fisherman raised the alarm the next day, after he saw the girl dangling above the water as it flowed through the car.

Three police officers and four firefighters entered the river to rescue the child and took her to the hospital. Police told reporters that they will not be releasing any further details about the baby unless her condition changes. The girl's name was also not released