H e a r d n e w s

Sunday Aborisade and John Ameh, Abuja Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has accused members of the National Assembly of corruption and extravagant wastage of the nation’s resources despite the harsh economic reality confronting the nation. Obasanjo stated this in a letter addressed to Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mr. Yakubu Dogara, dated January 13 but received at the Senate registry on January 18. The former president, in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by one of our correspondents on Wednesday, specifically alleged that the federal legislators allocated to themselves, salaries and allowances above the template approved by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission for National Assembly members. Obasanjo also accused the Senators and members of the House of Representatives of receiving huge sums as constituency allowances despite the fact that most of them did not have functional offices in their v...

Eniola Akinkuotu A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has berated the immediate past Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, describing her service to Nigeria as one based on lies, deceit and disregard for due process. The senior advocate said this in a three-page statement on Wednesday while reacting to Okonjo-Iweala’s diatribe against him. Okonjo-Iweala had on Monday described Falana as an ‘integrity-challenged charlatan’ who was being sponsored by corrupt elements. The former minister had also slammed Falana for attempting to implicate her in the $2.1bn arms scam and drag her before the International Criminal Court. However, Falana said it was hypocritical of Okonjo-Iweala to attempt to extricate herself from the corruption that characterised the last administration. He said her service record was that of scandals and scams. He noted that the N2.5tn fuel subsidy scam, the $2bn arms scam, the mismanaged $1bn Gen. Sani Abacha loot and many other...

Eniola Akinkuotu Former President Goodluck Jonathan says he cannot speak on the current $2.1bn arms scam now because the matter is in court. A former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki; the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, and others are currently standing trial for their alleged role in the scam. Jonathan, however, said in due time, he would tell his own side of the story.   The former President said this in a series of tweets on his official Twitter handle on Wednesday. He said, “My voice will certainly be heard at the appropriate time regarding the alleged arms funds mismanagement. I would not want to interfere with the proceedings by the judicial system that my administration worked tirelessly to strengthen. “My post-presidential focus is advancing democracy and good governance in Africa. If we do not spend billions to educate Africa’s youths today, we will spend it fighting insecurity tomorrow.” Spe...

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday called an employee of Diamond Bank, Eno-Mfon Effiong, as its fourth witness in the ongoing trial of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, on charges of money laundering and fraudulent receipt of N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014. Effiong, the account officer who manages the five accounts owned by Metuh and his firm, Destra Investments Limited, with Diamond Bank testified before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja, that the balance on the company’s account before its account was credited with N400m by the NSA office on November 24, 2014 was N6,676,576.06. The company was said to have opened the account in February 2013.   The third prosecution witness, Mr. Bali Ndiam, who is a legal adviser at the ONSA, had testified on Tuesday that Metuh’s firm was among 78 companies and indivi...

BY CHRISTY ANYANWU S he modeled as a young girl in the late eighties and early nineties before leaving the shores of this country for greener pasture. Coming back, she noticed the industry has expanded with the proliferation of designers in Nigeria. Still in shape with the right curves, she decided to go back to her first love, which is runway modeling. In the course of interacting with designers and models , she has this penchant to improve modeling in Nigeria by starting a school for budding models. Bukola Taiwo visited The Sun in Lagos lately to tell her story. Excerpts: Tell us more about who you are? I’m Bukola Taiwo and I’m a super model. I have been modeling for over 20 years now. I modeled in the late eighties and early nineties. I did that for a while and came back to Nigeria to complete my tertiary education. I am married and I had four kids. After I had all my children, I still discovered I’m still in shape and I know that being a model is my calling. I...