TheNewsGuru

Tag: UK

  • UK, Malawi renew historic ties

    New British High Commissioner to Malawi, Holly Tett, has said the deep and strong bilateral relations between the United Kingdom (UK) and Malawi will be more important during this time that the countries are experiencing major changes like Brexit and the pushing of a reform agenda respectively.

    Tett was speaking to local press at Kamuzu Palace in the capital Lilongwe shortly after presenting her letters of credence to President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.

    Accompanied by her partner Mark Kalch and the deputy High Commissioner Stephen Phillips, Ms Tett said that as a long-standing development partner of Malawi, the UK will continue supporting Malawi in a range of priorities.

    “I talked to the President about a really true historic friendship that Malawi and UK have; we talked about deepening that friendship through what will be period of significant changes like Brexit in UK and as the President pushes through his reform agenda,” said Tett.

    Tett said she will support Malawi to deal with the current humanitarian crisis (where the UK has already provided £43 million, approximately K43 billion), to continue with the momentum of the reform agenda and a broad range of priorities like education, health and issues that affect women, girls and children, and to further boost the sporting links between the two countries.

    Holly Tett succeeds Michael Nevin whose tour of duty ended in September last year.

    Before her arrival into the country earlier this month, Simon Mustard served as the UK’s temporary High Commissioner. The UK currently runs a £150 million (approximately K150 billion) development programme in Malawi to help progress and lift her people out of poverty.

  • Aisha Buhari refutes claims of VIP treatment from Embassy in UK, dares accusers to show proof

    Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari has refuted claims that she receives special treatment from Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom, UK anytime she visits the country with her entourage.

    Recall that an online news medium (not TheNewsGuru.com) had reported on Thursday that the High Commission spends a minimum of £7,000 for hospitality on each of Mrs. Buhari’s trips to the United Kingdom.

    The report claimed that some documents show that the sum of £14,100.80 was paid to a company, Savanna Construction Limited, for what was described as “call out report on 31 air-conditioning units in the High Commission building.”

    But Aisha, in a statement signed by her S.A Media, Adebisi Olumide Ajayi, refuted the claims saying they were all lies and baseless accusations.

    The statement reads in full: “The attention of the Wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari has been drawn to a report in Sahara Reporters where, she was amongst other things accused of abuse of privileges at Nigerian High Commission in London.

    “It is not in her interest to join issues with anyone or defend others mentioned in the report, it is however paramount to put the record in proper perspectives as its concern her trips to UK vis-à-vis the Nigerian High Commission in London.

    “Aisha Buhari has never traveled to London with a large entourage as was carried in the report. The highest number of people on a trip involves her three kids, ADC, and her personal physician.

    “The Nigerian Commission in London has never offered any favor either monetarily or materially to her or her so called entourage on any of her trips to London.

    “The state house in Abuja caters for her meal when necessary, and other healthy food or variety needed by her children are her personal responsibility. It is on record that the Nigerian Commission in London does not receive Aisha Buhari at the airport with any official distinction or privileges as was accorded other first ladies before her drivers are privately arranged without any recourse to the embassy for staff.

    “She has never complained or raised dust about any of these acts by the High Commission because of the understanding, as clearly spelt out and practiced by her husband, that public office must be separated from the private lives of the occupants.

    “She has always been an advocate of good governance where officials of government are responsive and appealing to their constituents, it therefore baffles the imagination that one could believe she would corroborate with any government official however highly placed either at home or abroad to shortchange the Nigerian people.

    “These records are not hidden for a non-mischievous reporter who really intends to inform the people and not to disparage the family of the President just to add weight to a report.

    “Aisha Buhari would have ignored this, like all of such baseless accusations, but the angle to which the report was presented has a corruption and abuse of privileges connotation which negates the fundamental principle upon which this administration thrives.

    “Consequently, Sahara reporter or any of the embassy staff is hereby challenged to provide any concrete evidence either in hard or soft copy to contradict Aisha’s Buhari’s position as it concerns her trips to London.

    “Sahara reporter should take the challenge and come out with the true version in relation to Aisha Buhari if not for her reputation and that of her family, but for the sake of good Nigerians who deserve to know the truth at all times,” the statement added.

  • Scam Alert: Pastor Ashimolowo’s KICC loses $5m to Ponzi scheme

    The Senior Pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre, KICC, London, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has reportedly lost about $5m to a Ponzi scheme in the United Kingdom.

    According to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Ashimolowo’s 12,000-member mega church in Britain lost the huge amount of money after the worship house’s trustees carelessly invested money in a Ponzi scheme.

    The scamming of Pastor Ashimolowo’s church was reportedly perfected by former Premier League soccer player Richard Rufus, an ex-defender for Charlton Athletic.

    Rufus had promised investors along with KICC a return as high as 55 per cent.

    NAN quotes the Christian Post as reporting that the findings of an inquiry published on December 14, 2016 by the Charity Commission for England and Wales revealed that KICC, which is based in Kent. suffered a net loss of about $4.8 million (£3.9 million) after its trustees invested over $6.1 million (£5 million) in four instalments between June 2009 and June 2010.

    The church worked with Rufus because he was a member and former trustee of the church and had guaranteed that the investments would earn as high as 55 per cent in a year.

    Rufus was however found guilty of defrauding about 100 investors out of a total of $10,731,159 (£8,682,343) in the £16-million investing scheme in 2015.

    According to findings, KICC was the single largest investor in the scheme.

    The Charity Commission said in the report that the church’s trustees who handed over the funds were guilty of “mismanagement.”

    NAN reports further that the commission, during its inquiry, appointed an interim manager to review the trustees’ decisions to invest the £5 million.

    The interim manager found that the trustees did not investigate enough nor consider that the rate of return they were promised was realistic and put too much trust in the trustee’s good standing with the church and community.

    “The interim manager found that conflicts of interest were not managed properly by the decision-making trustees when making the decision to invest.

    There was too much reliance on the expertise of the ex‑trustee when he was personally interested and conflicted,” the report states.

    “The interim manager found that insufficient consideration was given by the decision-making trustees as to whether the guaranteed rate of return was unrealistically high, or to the potential for fraud.”

    Attempt by the church to get back its money failed when Rufus filed for bankruptcy and was declared bankrupt in 2013.

    The church is however yet to respond officially to its lost in the scheme.

     

  • Ibori out of prison, spends Christmas in the UK, returns to Nigeria January

    Nigeria’s former governor James Onanefe Ibori who was released from prison in the United Kingdom (UK) about noon today after serving a 13 years prison sentence for corruption and money laundering is set to return to Nigeria in January.

    Justice Juliet May gave the edict that the matter for the deportation of the Delta state former governor from the UK must be heard before the end of January while ordering Ibori’s immediate release from prison.

    However, the UK’s Home Office earlier rejected the release of James Ibori from prison, with representatives of Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, arguing that Ibori might “frustrate confiscation proceedings” and therefore Ibori should be kept in jail or subject to strict controls on his movement.

    Rudd is claiming Ibori hands over £18m (about 7 billion naira) of “proceeds of crime” to the UK government, but the High Court Judge has said the attempts to further detain Ibori were “quite extraordinary”.

    Ibori’s barrister, Ivan Krolic, explained that Ibori’s confiscation proceedings collapsed in 2013, after the prosecution was unable to establish any theft from Nigeria’s Delta state treasury, and any benefit for Ibori.

    “A three-week hearing which heard live evidence was abandoned by the prosecutors – Wass QC and Shutzer-Weissman.

    “Both prosecutors have since been dismissed from the case for gross misconduct,” Krolic said.

    Krolic further explained that British police officers in the case led by DC McDonald, have again been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and now face a tough investigation into their corrupt activities in the case.

    “The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed officers in the case were corrupt.

    “It has since disclosed substantial material evidencing the graft,” Krolic said.

    Meanwhile, the CPS had admitted in September that the review team ordered to review evidence following allegations that police took bribes and prosecutors covered it up, at the prompt of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, found material to support the assertion that a police officer received payment in return for information.

    “You don’t hold someone just because it is convenient to do so and without plans to deport them,” Justice May declared.

    Ordering Ibori’s release, Justice May said: “The Secretary of State appears to have taken it upon herself that Ibori does remain in this country, in apparent contradiction of the order served earlier this year to deport him”.

    “The position of the Secretary of State, as very candidly set out by Mr Birdling (representing the Home Secretary), is that she accepts that there is an argument that she has no power to detain him.

    “I have decided that the balance of convenience falls heavily in favour of his immediate release.

    “I am not prepared to impose conditions involving tagging or curfews,” Justice May said, adding that “The matter of Ibori’s deportation should be heard before the end of January”.

    TheNewsGuru reporter in the UK has confirmed that Ibori has since been released from prison following the order, but he will remain and spend Christmas in the UK until the confiscation matter for his deportation from the UK is resolved.

    Ibori was released from Her Majesty’s Huntercombe Prison near Nuffield in Oxfordshire, England, where he spent his prison term, with his sister, Christine Ibori Ibie and a team of his lawyer on ground to pick him to the sister’s apartment in Wembley, an area of northwest London.

    “He is out of here”, a prison source confirmed.

    Here are exclusive photos of Ibori after his release.

  • BREAKING: Ibori steps out of prison

    James Onanefe Ibori, former governor of Delta State, has stepped out of prison in the United Kingdom (UK) where he served a 13 years jail term for corruption and money laundering.

    Ibori’s release followed a dramatic turn of events at a British High Court in London in which Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, was accused of acting unlawfully and misusing her powers, and in which some UK police officers were confirmed corrupt.

    A reporter of TheNewsGuru monitoring the turn of events of the enthralling Ibori case from the UK has exclusively informed that Ibori’s sister, Christine Ibori Ibie, has lead a pack of associates of the former governor to pick him at the prison, which is a few hours away from London, with Ibori expected to be in the city in a couple of hours or so.

    Also read: Efforts to keep Ibori in further detention by British govt fails

    Already, there is excitement and celebrations across Nigeria, especially at Ibori’s Oghara hometown, and in the UK, among his associates who have been on ground the UK to accord him grandstanding reception.

    Justice Juliet May of the British High Court ordered Ibori’s release few minutes past noon after rejecting Rudd’s request for conditions to be imposed on Ibori’s release. The visibly irritated Judge could not understand the Home Secretary’s position and at times was critical of the move to detain Ibori any further.

    Rudd was refusing Ibori’s release on the ground that Ibori hands over £18m of “proceeds of crime,” but the High Court Judge said the attempts to detain him were “quite extraordinary”.

    Justice May said: “You don’t hold someone just because it is convenient to do so and without plans to deport them”.

    Justice May also rejected an application from UK’s Home Office that Ibori be electronically tagged and subject to strict curfew conditions, accepting arguments that the Home Secretary was attempting to misuse her immigration and deportation powers.

    The Home Office’s said the government was concerned that Ibori might “frustrate confiscation proceedings” and wanted him kept in jail or subject to strict controls on his movement.

    Ibori’s barrister, Ivan Krolic, explained that Ibori’s confiscation proceedings collapsed in 2013, after the prosecution was unable to establish any theft from the Delta State treasury and any benefit for Ibori.

    “A three-week hearing which heard live evidence was abandoned by the prosecutors – Wass QC and Shutzer-Weissman. Both prosecutors have since been dismissed from the case for gross misconduct,” Krolic said.

    Krolic further explained that British police officers in the case led by DC McDonald, have again been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and now face a tough investigation into their corrupt activities in this case.

    “The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed officers in the case were corrupt. It has since disclosed substantial material evidencing the graft,” Krolic said.

    The conviction of James Ibori followed a government anti-corruption campaign led by the Department for International Development (DfID) 10 years ago.

    But earlier this year the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, demanded a review of the evidence following allegations that police took bribes and prosecutors covered it up.

    “The review team found material to support the assertion that a police officer received payment in return for information,” the CPS admitted in September.

    It emerged in court today that the CPS, which is pursuing the confiscation proceedings, was “neutral” about Ibori’s release and deportation.

    Ian MacDonald QC, representing Ibori, said: “The Secretary of State has taken it upon herself. There is no objection from (the CPS) for release”.

    “This is extraordinary,” Justice May said. “They (the CPS) don’t care.”

    “Why doesn’t the Secretary of State just send him back?” she asked. “He wants to go. She wants him to go”.

    Ordering Ibori’s release, Justice May said: “The Secretary of State appears to have taken it upon herself that Ibori does remain in this country, in apparent contradiction of the order served earlier this year to deport him”.

    “The position of the Secretary of State, as very candidly set out by Mr Birdling (representing the Home Secretary), is that she accepts that there is an argument that she has no power to detain him.

    “I have decided that the balance of convenience falls heavily in favour of his immediate release.

    “I am not prepared to impose conditions involving tagging or curfews,” Justice May declared.

    While Ibori has been released to be in the UK, the Judge, however, ordered that the matter of his deportation from the UK should be heard before the end of January.

     

    For synopsis on Ibori’s release, follow the links below:

    BREAKING: Bid to keep Ibori in further detention by British govt fails
    BREAKING: London court orders Ibori’s immediate release
    Nigerians invade London for Ibori

  • Photos: Jubilation over Ibori release paralyses Benin/Warri road

    The release of former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori has triggered wild jubilation in his hometown, Oghara, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State.


    The group of revelers which consists Oghara politicians, elders, women, youths and children danced, drank and chanted celebration songs over the news of the release of the former governor.

    According to eye witnesses at the scene, the ongoing jubilation over Ibori’s release has paralysed Oghara/ Benin Expressway and virtually all streets were blocked, making it difficult for passengers to travel through the routes to their various destinations.

  • BREAKING: Efforts to keep Ibori in further detention by British govt fail

    ImageFile: Bid to keep Ibori in further detention by British govt fails1
    James Onanefe Ibori.

    Efforts by the British government to get a court order to continue to detain former Delta state government, James Ibori, who has served out a concurrent 13 years jail term, failed, propelling the presiding Judge to lambast the British Home Secretary, saying she is being unlawful and misusing her powers.

    According to TheNewsGuru reporter in the United Kingdom (UK) monitoring the trend of events, there was mild drama in the British High Court today as senior lawyers for the UK’s Home Office failed in their last-minute bid to prevent Ibori’s release.

    TheNewsGuru can reveal that the apparent decision to block Ibori’s release and detain him appears to have come from the highest echelons of the UK Government – the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, who was accused in today’s hearing of acting unlawfully and misusing her powers.

    Relying on a subsisting confiscation case against Chief Ibori whose term in jail ended yesterday, the British government had wanted an order to either further detain him or compel him to remain in the United Kingdom until the confiscation hearing is completed.

    Sian Davies, the Crown Prosecution lawyer did not object to Ibori’s return to Nigeria, yet at the last minute the Home Office stepped in. There is clear discord between the two arms of the British Government.

    Ibori’s team was led by Ian McDonald QC, the leading QC on immigration.

    The visibly irritated Judge could not understand the Home Secretary’s position and at times was critical of the move to detain Ibori any further.

    Justice Juliet May rejected the Home Secretary’s requests for conditions to be imposed and ordered Ibori’s immediate release.

    Ivan Krolic, who also attended, explained that Ibori’s confiscation proceedings collapsed in 2013, after the prosecution was unable to establish any theft from the Delta State treasury and any benefit for Ibori. A three-week hearing which heard live evidence was abandoned by the prosecutors – Wass QC and Shutzer-Weissman. Both prosecutors have since been dismissed from the case for gross misconduct.

    Krollic further explained that British police officers in the case led by DC McDonald, have again been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and now face a tough investigation into their corrupt activities in this case. The CPS has confirmed officers in the case were corrupt. It has since disclosed substantial material evidencing the graft.

    Ibori and others have long maintained that this prosecution was politically motivated. It was funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), whose senior employee was also the jury foreperson in one of the earlier trials.

    The Ibori case has been plagued with British police corruption, exceptional prosecutorial misconduct and fundamental non-disclosure. A multitude of appeals have now been launched or are in the process of being launched.

  • BREAKING: London court orders Ibori’s immediate release

    A London court has ordered the immediate release of James Onanefe Ibori from prison before nightfall today.

    Ibori was convicted and jailed for corruption and money laundering by a Southwark Crown court on 17th April 2012 in the United Kingdom (UK), but there has been mild drama today in the British High Court as senior lawyers for the UK’s Home Office failed in their last-minute bid to prevent Ibori’s release.

    According to TheNewsGuru reporter monitoring the Ibori trend of events from the United Kingdom (UK), there was mild drama in the British High Court today as senior lawyers for the UK’s Home Office failed in their last-minute bid to prevent Ibori’s release.

    TheNewsGuru can report that the apparent decision to block Ibori’s release and detain him appears to have come from the highest echelons of the UK Government – the Home Secretary who was accused in today’s hearing of acting unlawfully and misusing her powers.

    Sian Davies, the Crown Prosecution lawyer did not object to Ibori’s return to Nigeria, yet at the last minute the Home Office stepped in. There is clear discord between the two arms of the British Government.

    Ibori’s team was led by Ian McDonald QC, the leading QC on immigration.

    The visibly irritated Judge could not understand the Home Secretary’s position and at times was critical of the move to detain Ibori any further.

    Justice Juliet May rejected the Home Secretary’s requests for conditions to be imposed and ordered Ibori’s immediate release.

    British Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, is being unlawful and indications reveal she is misusing her powers.

    Ivan Krolic, who also attended explained that Ibori’s confiscation proceedings collapsed in 2013, after the Prosecution was unable to establish any theft from the Delta State and any benefit for Ibori. A three-week hearing which heard live evidence was abandoned by the prosecutors – Wass QC and Shutzer-Weissman. Both prosecutors have since been dismissed from the case for gross misconduct.

    Krollic further explained that British police officers in the case led by DC McDonald, have again been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and now face a though investigation into their corrupt activities in this case. The CPS has confirmed officers in the case were corrupt. It has since disclosed substantial material evidencing the graft.

    Ibori and others have long maintained that this prosecution was politically motivated. It was funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), whose senior employee was also the jury foreperson in one of the earlier trials.

    The Ibori case has been plagued with British police corruption, exceptional prosecutorial misconduct and fundamental non-disclosure. A multitude of appeals have now been launched or are in the process of being launched.

    As at the time of filing this report, the UK government has obeyed the court order with Christine Ibori Ibie leading a pack of Ibori associates to prison to pick up freed James Ibori.

  • Ibori goes to church

    ImageFile: Ibori goes to church
    James Onanefe Ibori in company of Emmanuel Uduaghan and Ifeanyi Okowa.

    The long wait will be over soon! May even have been over before you get to read this!

    The gates of the London prison will soon open for the enigmatic ‘Sheikh’, James Onanefe Ibori, to breathe the air of freedom.

    Already, a huge number of Nigerians is on ground the United Kingdom (UK) to accord the former Delta state governor grandstanding reception as he steps out of jail. They are there to show solidarity, to pledge their loyalty. To some, it is to generally position themselves in Ibori’s good book for some 2019 election spoils.

    The number of associates right there is enormous; quality men and women not only from his home state, Delta, but indeed from across a broad spectrum of his political associates all over Nigeria. The deputy governor of Delta state, Kingsley Otuaro, is leading a delegation of commissioners, top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members and others. This is perhaps a foretaste of the carnival like reception Chief Ibori will receive when he steps foot in Nigeria.

    A Nigerian who has resided in London for 15 years could only wonder: “From what I have seen, all the movement and preparations, the world would not understand why despite his conviction, Chief Ibori is still attracting this huge following”.

    Meanwhile, TheNewsGuru can reveal that Ibori has a different plan. Not for him is any celebratory carnival. Indeed he is set to shock most of those who have flooded London to receive him.

    This is Chief Ibori’s own plan: to leave the prison abode of the past four years and head straight to a church near where he has made arrangements for accommodation until he is able to return to Nigeria. And it is not even the Nigerian style of loud thanksgiving, where all his associates and family will put up a loud show of thanking God.

    TheNewsGuru gathered from very reliable sources close to him that Ibori wants to go straight to the nearest church alone and spend the whole day there, in a solo worship and praise. Ibori who is a Baptist will have no qualms going to the nearest worship place of any Christian denomination close to his new abode.

    Not many of those who have flooded London seemingly know of this plan. Ibori is bent on doing this show his own way. The solo worship will be a retreat.

    After four years of incarceration, it is not to be questioned why Ibori wishes to be left alone for a whole day in the house of God unhindered and not distracted, to thank the Almighty for seeing him through all the rough road, stress, disappointments, and to seek more grace to overcome.

    Ibori was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a Southwark Crown court on 17th April, 2012, after pleading guilty to 10 counts of money laundering and stealing.

    Despite his travails, Ibori has managed to maintain a core of die-hard loyalists in Delta state and indeed across the country. He is extremely still very popular in Delta as his absence did not stop his political family from dominating and retaining power in Delta state. It is common knowledge that he singlehandedly installed the current governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, from his prison cell.

  • ‘My parents relocated me from UK for rituals; I killed them in defence’

    One Babalola Rotimi, 24 arrested for killing his father and stabbing his mother in their home at Magodo Phase 2, Lagos has said he committed the crime in self defence when it was clear they were going to use him for rituals.

    Babalola who was recently recalled by his parents from the United Kingdom (UK) said everything was going on fine until his parents decided to resort to diabolical means to force him home for ulterior motives.

    In his words: “My father got what he deserved. He started it all. I was living in the United Kingdom when he used black magic to bring me back to Nigeria and he locked me up in the house. I don’t know what they intended to do with me.

    ‘They called some native doctors to do some rituals with red oil which they kept in my room. The native doctors made some incisions on my body and since then, I have not really been myself and I have been seeing strange things and hearing strange voices.

    “As a religious person, I resorted to God and was praying for my freedom but each time I tried to escape, my father will call area boys who will beat me up with reckless abandon. The intimidation was too much and I was looking for any means of escape. One day, I escaped from my room to the kitchen and I took two kitchen knives which I hid in my pocket for protection.

    “On that fateful day, while my mother was cooking in the kitchen, I greeted her but she started raining abuses on me. I knew there was trouble because she always beats me whenever she is angry. I went to my father too and he started raining curses on me.

    “When I asked what the problem was, he started beating me and as I was tired of his beating, I dipped my hand in my pocket and brought out the knife and stabbed him in the leg. When he wanted to disarm me, I stabbed him in the stomach and he fell down and my mother started shouting.

    “I threatened her to give me the key to the door so that I can leave. She refused and I stabbed her too. They started it all. They wanted to use me for ritual. I regret my actions anyway but if they did not bring me back to Nigeria, I would have still been in the UK.”