Abuja-kaduna Speed Rail : Separating Facts From Fiction & Lies From The Truth

As General Mohammadu Buhari commissions the Abuja - Kaduna high speed rail project it has become imperative set the records straight not just for history and for humanity sake but most importantly to prevent the attempt by drunk and misguided paid lairs to steal from a man with vision and give the stolen property to a clueless man without direction.

Many have claimed that the Abuja -Kaduna high speed was Initially conceived by Obasanjo the claim is false .
The truth is that under Obasanjo, a consortium submitted a for a RAIL (std guage) project which included the Kaduna- Abuja rail line unfortunately despite initial high interest shown by Obasanjo, the Owu chief dumped the project in pursuit of his third term agenda which unfortunately hit the rocks thanks to Atiku ,Ken Nnamani and Ghali Umar Na'Abba.

When the same idea was submitted to Yardua/Jonathan they accepted it, Although Yardua later died Jonathan pursued it with vigor and commenced its construction and pursued it to conclusion.

Simon Kolawole former editor of Thisday and now publisher of Cable expressly confirms the fact that President Jonathan was the initiator of the project.

Source :
https://www.thecable.ng/kpmg-nigerias-high-speed-rail-world-class

Even Buhari state House website still has the records .

http://www.statehouse.gov.ng/index.php/government/78-featured/108-railway

Obasanjo had nothing to do with it!, people confuse the Abuja light rail project(intra city)whose ground breaking was performed by Obasanjo with the Abuja-Kaduna rail project .

It is imperative to note that apart of the grass clearing (tagged official ground breaking in 2007) for the intracity project Obasanjo never did anything to actualise the dream. the intracity project was originally linked to the Abuja's bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014 which never happened!

See source 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuja_Light_Rail

GEJ also ensured that the Abuja-Kaduna high speed rail project did not suffer like most government projects, hence when budget provisions could not meet up with counterpart funding levels SURE-P a creation of Jonathan from subsidy Savings came to the rescue 

Tinubus Nation newspaper corroborates this :

http://thenationonlineng.net/sure-p-sure-of-abuja-kaduna-railway-date/

Despites starting the project from scratch ,In just 3 years(2014) Jonathan had achieved 70% completion

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312091891.html

The only project that received more attention under Jonathan apart from the Federal University/ Almajiri school project & Rice Farming was this high speed rail. project.

http://nigeriannewspapers.disnaija.com/sun/fg-commissions-n136-392b-abuja-kaduna-railway/

Unfortunately APC chieftains who are shamelessly taking selfies with the project were the ones who claimed the coaches were locomotives. 

1. Amaechi Buharis Campaign Director General and current minister of transport:

Hear Amaechi in His own words: 

“In fact, I think we have a problem; most people don’t believe that the railway transport is functioning in Nigeria. I didn’t even know, until I started this tour, I never knew that the railway was functioning, it was even from his (MD’s) speech that I learnt that there are some coaches or services that go to Kano or Port Harcourt or elsewhere.

http://dailypost.ng/2015/12/16/i-never-knew-railway-transport-still-existed-in-nigeria-amaechi/

Tolu Ogunlesi : Buharis aide on new media 

Stated that the Abuja - Kaduna rail project did not exist , he even went as far as posting pictures of a open field where he claimed a taxi driver took him to to buttress his lies!
Today the young man is tweeting pictures all over the place showing Buhari commissioning a project he earlier claimed did not exist !

His handle : www.twitter.com/toluogunlesi 

APC as a party claimed the transformation of the rail sector only existed in the imagination of the former president today they are taking selfies inside another mans idea

Source:

APC Campaign Faults Jonathan’s Achievement On Railway, Says ‘Transformation’ Claim Fraudulent, Product Of Over-Active Imagination

http://www.informationng.com/2015/02/apc-campaign-faults-jonathans-achievement-on-railway-says-transformation-claim-fraudulent-product-of-over-active-imagination.html

WE DENIED DANGOTE LAND FOR SUGAR PLANTATION BECAUSE... - Kebbi State Governor

Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s plan to establish a sugar plantation and a factory in Kebbi State may have hit the rock, as indigenous land owners, who are mostly farmers, have refused to release their farm land.

Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu said this at an interactive session with intellectuals of Kebbi State origin working at Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. The session was held at the university’s auditorium. Also in attendance were members of the Kebbi State Students’ Union, UDUS chapter.

Governor Bagudu said that even at the offer of compensation, the farmers tenaciously held on to their land, saying that Dangote’s investment will not serve their interest.

He said, “Dangote Industries’ application for 54,000 hectares of land to establish a sugar factory pre-dated my administration, but they could only identify about 24,000 hectares suitable for sugar cane cultivation.

“When we came on board, there was pressure on us because all of those 24,000 hectares belong to farmers. And the proposal we met on ground was that those farmers would be paid compensation of about a hundred thousand naira per hectare.”

He said further, “As a government, the whole cabinet looked at the proposal. Our concern is, you are going to pay a farmer hectare of land where he produces his crops. You will be making an income of 700,000 a year where he has been making 100,000 and make him a labourer forever. How as a social policy can you justify this opportunity cost?

“What is the net contribution in output that this investment is going to bring, for instance, if you are replacing your current production of rice by the production of sugar cane?

“Let there be no mistakes about it, we welcome investors and we thank Dangote Industries for identifying Kebbi as one of those states he wants to invest in. But above all, the most important thing is the need to ensure that investments serve and benefit our people.

“We hope to convince Dangote that there are other ways this can be done to have better security for his investment, like agreeing that our farmers become his out-growers and he buys from them for production in his factory.”

On adding value to rice and wheat production, which the state is noted for, Governor Bagudu explained that his administration built two models whereby a farmer, given sufficient inputs without subsidy, would inevitably achieve better outcome than a farmer receiving subsidy but insufficient inputs.

“When we tested this by interacting with farmers, we were surprised by their acceptance of adequate inputs without subsidy versus subsidy without adequate inputs,” he said.

He identified lack of human resources, inadequate infrastructure and apathy to developmental values on the part of youths as problems of education in the state.

Bagudu also used the occasion to outline remarkable achievements his administration had recorded since assumption of office.

The event with over 40 Kebbi State indigenously ranked professors and others in attendance was chaired by Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, Vice-Chancellor, Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, also an indigene of Kebbi State.

SIASIA ROBBED IN ATLANTA!

Olympic team coach Samson Siasia and his assistant were robbed of valuable possessions in the Olympic team's hotel car park in Atlanta, Georgia but he kept it secret in order not to distract his team and make them lose concentration ahead of the Rio Olympics according to a report by top Nigerian sports magazine, Sporting Life.

According to the report by the magazine published today, a close friend of the Bayelsa born coach revealed how Siasia's credit cards and money were stolen, his car damaged and his phones and phones of his assistant stolen by Burglars on Tuesday last week at the team's training camp hotel car park and how Siasia still kept it to himself because he wants total focus from his players.

"Coach Samson Siasia was robbed last week when he parked the car he is using for running around for the team at the team's hotel park'' the source said .

"He went to see the players after the evening session and also freshen up in his hotel room , but alas as he came back to pick his car he discovered that somebody had broken the door and the glass of the car and made away with his credit card, his two android phones, the phones of his assistant, Abu and some money too''

"Siasia was demoralized but after a few minutes he braced up and told us that the devil is a liar and that nothing can stop him from preparing this team for the Olympics task ahead."

When Siasia was contacted by SportingLife , the former Super Eagles coach asked " who told you, how did you know ?"

"Well it's true but I have done what I supposed to do so there is no cause for alarm.

"We are focused and preparing hard for the Olympics that is what I can tell you for now. But it is true that the car I am using here was burgled and they made away with my credit cards and other valuables . But no cause for alarm as I told you"

MOHAMMED BABANGIDA'S MARRIAGE TO BILLIONAIRE'S INDIMI'S DAUGHTER CRASHES

Rahama is one of the daughters of billionaire businessman Mohammed Indimi. She got married to Mohammed Babangida, son of former Nigerian Military leader, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, several years ago and they have four kids together. However, their marriage has ended. She shared an audio via her Instagram page where she claimed her now (ex husband) can allegedly be heard saying nasty things about his new wife and wrote,

"Woke up to this, a recording of Mr Mo saying some nasty things about his current wife I wonder what he has been saying about me when we were married (not cool muha,not cool) may Allah protect us all from people like this. Ameen#justsaying".

The video has since been deleted.

She also wrote...

'"t is rather unfortunate that people you confide in can just go through your phone and post such an embarrassing audio of you know who. It is no secret that we have been divorced and I did not hide it. He is the father of my children and I do respect him.The leakage of the audio was done in poor taste so people pls stop tagging me. I had nothing to do with it.someone thought it should be out there and I disagree. What goes on in his house is his Business and not mine.My advise is just watch what you say and to whom you say it to. I wish them nothing but happiness. I have done so in the past and I will continue to do so. May Allah help us and guide us. Ameen".

WHY IBB OVERTHREW ME- Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said he was removed from office 31 years ago because he was planning to purge the military hierarchy of corruption.
Mr. Buhari, who has not spared the military even in his ongoing anti-corruption war, said senior military leaders, led by former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Aliyu Gusau, removed him in August 1985, to save themselves from his wrath.
In an exclusive interview published in the current edition of The Interview magazine, Mr. Buhari challenged Messrs Babangida and Gusau to tell the truth on why they carried out the coup against him.
“I learnt,” he said, “that Aliyu Gusau, who was in charge of intelligence, took import licence from the ministry of commerce which was in charge of supplies and gave it to Alhaji Mai Deribe.
“It was worth N100,000, a lot of money at that time. I confronted them and took the case to the Army council in a memo…I wanted Gusau punished.”
In a statement on www.theinterview.com.ng, the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Interview, Azu Ishiekwene, said, “This is one edition that won’t let sleeping dogs lie.”
Mr. Babangida had told The Interview in its December edition that there was nothing in the memo which Mr. Buhari said he submitted to the Army council.
“Don’t forget that I was one of Buhari’s closest aides. I was the chief of army staff. So, I had an important position, an important role to play within that administration. I don’t think it had to do with a memo,” Mr. Babangida said.
But in a tone which revealed that the past may neither have been forgotten nor forgiven, Mr. Buhari challenged Messrs Babangida and Gusau to come clean on why they removed him, asking The Interview to choose whose story to believe.
He also fielded questions about his health, the 2016 budget, the pace of his government, former President Goodluck Jonathan and why Babatunde Fashola was handed three ministerial portfolios.
The edition also features interviews with Liberian presidential hopeful, Winston Tubman, and retired Justice Dahiru Saleh, the controversial judge whose court nailed June 12.
And in an interview which indicates that the battle for 2019 could be well and truly underway, pharmacist and rotarian, Mike Omotosho, reveals his ambition for the Kwara State Government House.
His road map would give rivals sleepless nights, Mr. Ishiekwene said.

LAWYER WITHDRAWS SUIT AGAINST BUHARI

Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, a legal practitioner,  has filed a notice at the Federal High Court in Abuja to discontinue the suit he instituted seeking the disqualification of President Muhammadu Buhari for lack of certificate

He alleged that Buhari was not qualified to aspire for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because he did not sit for the Cambridge West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961 as he claimed.

Notice of discontinuance dated June 27, 2016  stated : “Take note that the plaintiff in this originating summons, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, hereby discontinues this action.”

Checks revealed that following the withdrawal of the suit from court, the trial judge, Justice Ademola Adeniyi will today sit and accordingly strike out the case.

Though Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe did not give any reason for withdrawing the case from court, Thisday reports that it might not be unconnected with alleged threats to his life and members of his family.

In an interview last month, Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had alleged that there were some subtle threats on him to withdraw the case from court.

He had said: Of course, I am concerned and my family and friends are too; I am not naïve and some subtle threats have already been made. For now it is small comfort that if anything happens to me, even if disguised as an accident or anything, Nigerians will know exactly who is responsible.

“In any case, it was Professor Wole Soyinka, I think, who once said in one of his books that ‘The Man Dies in Him Who Keeps Quiet in The Face of Tyranny’ or something of the sort. Speaking of which, I am amazed at the conspiracy of silence by Nigerians. It is astounding is it not, that in the light of this very apparent rape of our constitution, laws, indeed the very essence of our democracy, all of our civil society advocates and activists have gone deaf and dumb in the face of tyranny.

“All those voluble persons (and I don’t want to name them; they know themselves and Nigerians know them too), who pretend they are activists or keepers of the moral conscience of the nation astonishingly can’t see or appreciate what is happening. This country really misses Chief Gani Fawehinmi; he was the only fearless, credible, true and genuine conscience of the nation, not the pretenders we have today; all the others only make noise when it suits them and their interests but look the other way once they are compromised. None of us today, can tie Gani’s shoe-laces.”

AMCON After Mike Adenuga's Conoil Over N39bn Debt

Nigeria’s second richest man, Mike Adenuga owned ConOil  is being pursued for a combined debt of over $140.5 million by two foreign and one local companies, PREMIUM TIMES has learned.

Despite making several pledges to pay, ConOil and other companies owned by Mr. Adenuga have reneged on paying the debts, multiple sources in the oil and gas sector have told this newspaper.
Things have got so bad that some of the creditor companies have either commenced or are considering commencing legal actions to force the billionaire businessman to pay up having exhausted all options to make him honour promises and agreement to pay.

In fact, one company has successful secured an interim order from a federal court to place one of Mr Adenuga’s companies under receivership.
The increasing debt profile of the telecom and oil mogul, who increased his net worth by almost $5 billion in the last year, according to luxury lifestyle magazine, Forbes, has hit some his creditors so hard that they had to shut down some of their operations.
One of such companies is Depthwize, a local oil servicing company, which is owed $40 million by ConOil.

The refusal of the management of ConOil to pay Depthwize, a small drilling contractor has forced the company to lay off workers and shut down services on two of ConOil’s rigs until the money is paid, those familiar with the matter said.

“Depthwize says it can no longer afford the day to day running cost of working on the rigs,” one source said.
Similarly, American oil and gas firm, Baker Hughes, was forced to lodge a court petition to wind up one of Mr Adenuga’s company, Belbop Nigeria Limited, over a USD $12.09 million bill they had been unsuccessfully trying to get the company to pay.
Baker Hughes argued that in 2009, Belbop awarded it a contract for the provision of directional drilling, MWD/LWD services and supply of drilling fluids and drilling bits, Logging cabin and surface acquisition system.

The company told the court that after it duly discharge its obligation and rendered all requisite services, Belbop refused to pay. Baker Hughes said it incurred a liability of $9.4 million in the course of executing the contract.

On April 12, 2016, Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court in Lagos placed an interim injunction on the accounts of Belbop pending the determination of suit.
The judge therefore appointed the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court as the receiver/manager of Belbop until the substantive suit is determined.
Mr Adenuga has also been given multinational oil firm, Total, the runaround over a $28.5 million debt it owed the French oil giant since 2009.

Although Total has been trying to resolve the debt without litigation, the refusal of Mr. Adenuga to pay the debt has forced the company to stop work at OML 136 gas field. Total is ConOil’s technical partner in the project.

At a meeting held with Total in November 2015, it was agreed that ConOil would pay the $28.5 million dollars owed before January 31 2016.
That meeting, which minutes is in the possession of PREMIUM TIMES, was chaired by Mr. Adenuga and attended by four executives from Total.

But those familiar with the matter told this newspaper Mr. Adenuga’s company is yet to pay up. All attempts by Total to make him release the money have also failed, insiders said.

Some said they are baffled by Mr Adenuga’s refusal to pay Total the $28.5 million, which would have seen work commence on the lucrative oil field.
The OML 136 asset is considered to be one of the largest gas fields in Nigeria, with a proven reserve of 11 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas. The exploration of the oil assets would have boosted Nigeria’s economy by creating jobs and would have yielded massive return to Total and ConOil, they explained.
When contacted, Total’s spokesperson, Charles Ogan, in an email to PREMIUM TIMES, said the matter is an “obvious internal administrative subject.”

Also, ConOil is engaged in a decade-long dispute with British oil firm, Vitol, over its alleged failure to pay a $60 million debt incurred from lifting of cargoes of refined petroleum products.

Vitol secured a court judgement in the UK in respect of the debt but has been unable to enforce it in Nigeria because ConOil got a stay of execution from a Nigerian court.

Conoil’s financial problems, PREMIUM TIMES gathered, may have been caused by Mr Adenuga’s slowness in taking advantage in potential money earners for the company.

For instance, in 2005, ConOil was granted exploration licence for OPL 257 by the federal government, but the company surprisingly left the block fallow until its licence expired. Now it is frantically asking the government for a two-year extension of its expired licence to enable it explore the field.

On January 22, 2016, Taiwo Olushina, the managing director of ConOil, wrote a letter to the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) blaming insecurity, high cost of drilling and technical hitches for its failure to explore the field before the expiration of the licence.

“Having attended to technical and financial challenges peculiar to ultra -deep offshore blocks, this approval will provide us with ample time in drilling three identified prospective locations in preparation for further development towards boosting national oil and gas reserves and production,” the letter read in part.

The spokesperson for Mr. Adenuga, Bode Opeseitan, could not be reached to comment for this story. He did not answer or return calls seeking comment.
Another spokesperson ducked when approached by this reporter to comment for this story.
Despite being identified by Truecaller app, Mike Oduniyi told PREMIUM TIMES that we had reached a wrong number and promptly terminated the call.
Tax palaver and bad loan

Mr Adenuga’s companies have also had tax issues in the recent past. In 2009, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) sealed the Lagos office of ConOil, and Continental Oil and Gas, another company owned by the businessman, over the non-remittance of $610 million tax to government.

Last month, seven years after his companies were first sealed, the FIRS shut the Lagos office of Globacom, the second largest mobile telephone company in the country, owned by the billionaire, for allegedly failing to remit Value Added Tax worth N24.3 billion.

Earlier in February this year, the Osun State Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) sealed the offices of the telecommunication firm in the state for failing to pay outstanding taxes and other levies in respect of mast/ base stations and laying of fibre optics.
The state said several meetings were held with the company’s representatives in the past three years to resolve the issue, but that the company failed to comply.

The Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) also listed Mr. Adenuga as one of the country’s biggest debtors for a N2.4billion loan his real estate company, Convenant Apartments Complex Limited, took from Wema Bank.

AMCON acquired the loan from the bank in 2010, after Convenant Apartments failed to pay up.

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