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See The Nigerians Contesting In The US Elections Today

Published

4 years ago

November 3, 2020

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written by Ayotunde Ayanda

the United States of America heads to the polls on today, and some Nigerian-Americans are on the ballot for various elective offices.

Apart from the presidential election, governorship elections are taking place in 11 states and two territories while congressional elections are also holding for all 435 seats of the US House of Representatives, and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate.

These are the list of the Nigerian’s contesting in the elections…

Oye Owolewa whose father is from Kwara and mother from Oyo, is aiming for a ‘shadow’ (non-voting) seat in the House of Representatives.

Owolewa, a PhD holder in Pharmacy from the North-Eastern University, Boston, is seeking to represent the District of Columbia (DC) under the Democratic Party.

Yomi Faparusi an Ibadan-born native of Ode-Ekiti in Ekiti State, is vying as an independent candidate to represent the state of Tennessee in the US Senate.

Faparusi holds a doctorate in Medicine from the University of Ibadan, a PhD in Health from John Hopkins University, and Juris Doctorate from the Widener University School of Law, Delaware.

This is not his first shot at the US Congress – in 2014 and 2016, he vied for the Republican Party’s ticket to the House of Representatives but lost on both occasions, Arise News reports.

Faparusi’s priorities include being a positive voice for all Nigerians in the US and inspiring Americans of African or Nigerian descent to seek public office in the country.

Yinka Faleti from Lagos is the Democratic Party flag-bearer in the election for the office of Secretary of State.

Faleti was in the US Army as an active-duty officer from 1998 to 2004.

He served in Kuwait, first under Operation Desert Spring and later as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The 44-year-old father of four holds a Bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy, West Point, and a Juris Doctorate from the Washington University School of Law.

His goals include protection of the “right to vote for Missouri families” and ensuring elected officials hear the people’s voices.

Paul Akinjo from Ondo is running for election to the California State Assembly under the Democratic Party to represent District 12.

Akinjo once served as Vice Mayor of Lathrop, California, and in the US Army Reserve from 1982 to 1989.

His priorities include housing, immigration and transportation.

Adewunmi Kuforiji, is aspiring to represent District 34 in the state’s House of Representatives.

Kuforiji, originally from Ibadan, Oyo, secured the Democratic Party’s ticket on September 15 after defeating his challenger, Robert Haynes, at the primary.

He holds a Bachelor in Accounting and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Delaware State University.

In the 2018 mid-term elections, he vied for the same position but lost to the incumbent, Lyndon Yearick, of the Republican Party, whom he is facing on Tuesday.

Esther Agbaje is seeking to represent District 59B in the Minnesota House of Representatives on the platform of the Minnesota Democratic–farmer-labour Party (DFLP), an affiliate of the US Democratic Party.

The 35-year-old daughter of an Episcopal priest and a librarian, both Nigerian immigrants, defeated long-time state Representative Raymond Dehn in the party’s primary in August.

She is one of four progressive greenhorns, who defeated established Democratic legislators in the primary.

Agbaje has a Law degree from Harvard University, a Master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, and has served in the US Department of State, among others.

As a millennial, a “generation that has suffered numerous setbacks”, she seeks to bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to government.

April Ademiluyi, Ngozi Akubuike and Benjamin Osemenam.

Ademiluyi, 39, is running on the Democratic Party’s ticket for Judge of the Seventh Circuit Court in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

For her part, Akubuike, a legal practitioner, is an independent candidate for judge of the Minnesota 2nd District Court Position 8.

Akubuike studied law in Nigeria, then worked in the banking sector before moving to the US where she graduated from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

She has served in several capacities including Legal Manager for the state of Minnesota.

Osemenam, who moved to the US in 1982, is contesting for a seat in the Brooklyn Park City Council of Minnesota to represent the East District.

An engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, he is vying on the platform of the National Party.

He is a former president of the Association of Nigerian Engineers in Minnesota.

additional reports from Saharareporters

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Panic As Governor’s Official Car Got Stolen

Published

4 weeks ago

September 11, 2024

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Confusion and fear was the order of the day at one of the Government houses in the Southwest some days ago when one of the official vehicles of the Governor, a bullet-proof jeep allegedly disappeared from the garage.

The SUV which is said to be one of the three bullet-proof vehicles being used for the Governor’s official assignment was discovered missing.

The Governor who was out of the country on a short, rest leave was claimed to have been disturbed when he was alerted.

Sources claimed it wasn’t the first time things would get missing at the Governor’s private residence.

‘There had been series of thefts, ranging from missing cash, phones and other expensive items, it’s usually swept under the carpet. Indiscipline is the order of the day here’, a source confirmed this to papermacheonline.

The State Governor, a quiet individual who is spending his second time in office was said to have been disturbed by the occurrence that he had to cut short his leave and return home. One of his closest aides was also kidnapped recently.

Business

Former First Bank Employee Accuses Oba Otudeko, Bisi Onasanya Of Massive Fraud

Published

1 month ago

August 27, 2024

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A former First Bank of Nigeria Limited employee, Adesuwa Ezenwa, has accused billionaire industrialist Oba Otudeko and former Managing Director Bisi Onasanya of massive fraud during Otudeko’s tenure as chairman of FBN Holdings Plc.

In court documents filed at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Ezenwa alleges that unsecured loans of approximately N12 billion were granted to a company in which Otudeko has significant investments, disguised as loans to Stallion Group of Companies.

Ezenwa, who was summarily dismissed in October 2016, is seeking redress for her termination and demanding N500 million in damages and N25 million in legal costs. She claims that she was made to bear the consequences of granting unsecured loan facilities worth billions of naira to companies linked to Otudeko and Onasanya, while her superiors who approved the credit were not penalized.

Ezenwa joined First Bank in 2002 and became a relationship manager in the corporate banking division in February 2016. She alleges that her superiors, including Abiodun Olatunji and Cecilia Majekodunmi, who worked closely with Onasanya, were involved in the fraudulent activities.

“As a relationship manager, I worked under the supervision and direction of my branch manager and group head and signed official correspondence only after they had approved and/or signed same. I had no independent authority in relation to the grant or disbursement of loans or other banking facilities,” Mrs Ezenwa said.

According to the claimant, she executed a large number of documents while she was still employed by First Bank, but only after approval by her bosses and on their direction.

She said she was summoned on 25 August 2015 to appear before a credit disciplinary committee reviewing facilities availed to a company known as Supply and Services Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Ceramics Group, one of the major customers of the bank.

The plaintiff said the committee could not determine whether she had a personal interest in any of the loans granted or whether she made any gain related to her duties. She said she was, however, blamed during proceedings for not whistleblowing on some of the deals endorsed by Mr Olatunji and Mrs Majekodunmi.

“The admonition was most unfair and unwarranted as I was in no position to whistleblow on my superiors … The persons to whom these reports would have been made were the very persons who were the perpetrators of the misdeeds,” she said.

A litany of allegations against Mr Otudeko

Mrs Ezenwa disclosed that unsecured loans of roughly N12 billion were availed, on one occasion, to a company in which Mr Otudeko has significant investment even though the facility was masked as loans granted to Stallion Group of Companies, which later spotted the false entry in its statement of account and complained.

In one case in 2012, she further alleged, an unsecured credit estimated at N2 billion was granted to Broadwaters Resources Company Nigeria Limited, which ended up being a conduit pipe used by Mrs Majekodunmi and Mr Onasanya to siphon monies from the bank. The claimant said the loan was never repaid.

“Out of the N12 billion camouflaged as lending to the Stallion Group, N8.21 billion was transferred through various accounts to a final destination account belonging to a company known as V-TECH LTD, which belongs to the chairman of FBN Holdings, Oba Otudeko, while the sum of N4.45 billion out of the same fictitious facility was transferred to Ontario Oil and Gas. The facility remains unpaid to date,” Mrs Ezenwa said in court fillings.

According to her, several similar loans were granted by Mr Olatunji and Mrs Majekodunmi, including to Supplies and Services Limited, which were “subsequently sublet and disbursed in smaller bits to several customers on more profitable terms to both officers.”

Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc, Orbit Cargo, Netconstruct Nigeria Limited, and High-Performance Distributions Limited were among the companies named as beneficiaries of the loan disbursement.

Mrs Ezenwa disclosed that such loans could not have been granted without the involvement of the board of First Bank, considering that the amounts involved were huge and above the approval limits of the executive directors, the vice president and the managing director of the bank.

According to the complainant, her dismissal by the bank brought her into disrepute, threatening her chances of securing employment in reputable companies in future.

“The action of the defendant (First Bank) has consequently caused the claimant untold mental distress and is all the more damaging as the claimant is in her thirties and has simply been made a scapegoat for the malfeasance of some of the lapses of the management of the bank,” she said.

Among other demands, Mrs Ezenwa is urging the court to declare that there was no basis for the bank to dismiss her.

“She is being made a scapegoat for a lot of questionable transactions within the bank, which she is claiming innocent of,” Seyi Sowemimo, the claimant’s lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday. “So far, the trial has started. We have subpoenaed the EFCC, and we have subpoenaed the central bank to bring the audit reports of the bank,” Seyi Sowemimo, the claimant’s lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES.

The allegations have sparked a legal battle, with Ezenwa seeking justice for her dismissal and damages for the fraudulent activities she claims to have uncovered.

Business

“AMCON MD In Trouble Over Keystone Bank Acquisition By Father In-law”, Isa Funtua

Published

1 month ago

August 27, 2024

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Why Bank Customers Are Making Panic Withdrawals…

Following the controversy generated by the leading opposition party, the People’s Democratic party, PDP, over the alleged acquisition of Keystone bank and Etisalat by Alhaji Isa Funtua and the CEO of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered probe into the alleged fraud.

A highly placed source at the headquarters of the Economic and financial crimes Commission, EFCC yesterday told daybreak that the President was thoroughly embarrassed with the allegations linking him to the transactions.

According to the source, a discrete panel will be set up soon comprising of the Chairman of the EFCC, representative of the DSS, ICPC, federal ministry of Justice to look into the allegations.

The source further added that, both Isa Funtua, Ahmed Kuru, the governor of the central bank of Nigeria, CBN, Chief Godwin Emefiele and management Staff of the Keystone Bank and 9Mobile will be quizzed by the operatives of the EFCC for some interactions.

Recently, a mindboggling scandal broke out to public knowledge about how Keystone Bank and 9Mobile were acquired in controversial circumstances by the business interests of one Alhaji Isa Funtua, a close friend of President Muhammadu Buhari, via the instrumentality of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The PDP challenged the federal government to come out clean on what could be a serious dent on its anti-corruption stance, there is indeed no smoke without fire.

The leading opposition party also confirmed fact that the son-in-law of Isa Funtua, Ahmed Kuru, is the current CEO of AMCON.

Before him, the previous CEO, Chike Obi, was a first-class gentleman and technocrat who was strangely removed from office before the expiration of his term and was replaced with Kuru, the son-in-law of Isa Funtua.

Now, let us get into the insider details of how Funtua bought Keystone Bank and 9Mobile in the most bizarre of dealings that circumvent the laws of the land. Keystone Bank was sold by the current CEO of AMCON to his father-in-law, Funtua, without any AMCON Board’s approval and with the active connivance of CBN and NDIC at a grossly undervalued price of 25 Billion Naira. To put things in context, let us recall that Enterprise Bank was sold for over 60 Billion Naira and Mainstreet Bank was sold for over 100 Billion Naira under the former CEO of AMCON.

Before the sale of Keystone Bank to Isa Funtua, all bad debts in the books of the Bank were taken over by AMCON. So, it was a clean Bank with all the Assets and no Liabilities that was sold to the Buyers.

The Executive Management of AMCON was coerced into approving the transaction and those who were willing to submit a much higher bid were disqualified under a most opaque, suspicious process that lacks all transparency. The process was just manipulated in favour of the father-in-law of the AMCON CEO.

The Corrupt Payment for Keystone Bank The most disgusting part of the entire sale of Keystone Bank is how the 25 Billion Naira sales price was paid to AMCON.

The Isa Funtua Team paid 5 Billion Naira to AMCON, and then the balance of 20 Billion Naira was later paid through the most criminal and corrupt approach ever perpetrated by AMCON in favour of the Buyer. What happened was that AMCON moved 20 Billion Naira of their own funds as a fixed deposit at GTBank to Heritage Bank. Heritage Bank then paid the 20 Billion Naira on behalf of the Funtua Group to AMCON. In other words, AMCON used their own funds as a collateral for a loan to the Funtua Group for 20 Billion Naira!

When the Funtua Group took over Keystone Bank, they went borrowing immediately at the Interbank Market for 20 Billion Naira to refund AMCON’s funds. This has left a hole in Keystone Bank’s Balance Sheet and makes the Bank one of the most undercapitalized Banks in the Country as at today. The evidence of this highly compromised acquisition process can be obtained from the current and former staff of AMCON, from NDIC, CBN and from the current staff of Keystone Bank itself.

Another suspicious acquisition scandal surrounding the Funtua Group is about the untidy way 9-Mobile, formerly known as Etisalat, was bought. It is Mr. Adrian Wood of Teleology Holdings, a very sound telecoms professional, who collaborated with the Funtua Group for the acquisition of 9-Mobile.

The problem with their bid was the lack of a qualified Operator to support the bid which was one of the minimum conditions of NCC. Adrian Wood alone was not a substitute for an Operator.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) gave several conditions that must be met by the Ultimate Buyer of 9-Mobile to ensure the protection of shareholders value, prevent loss of jobs, protect the telecoms industry from slipping into a crisis and ensure transparency and professionalism in the post-acquisition entity.
The conditions listed by NCC that must be met by the Buyer are Strong Telecoms Operating Experience, Strong Financial Capabilities, Strong Technical Knowledge and Strong Administrative Skills.
The first thing that happened once Teleology was announced as the preferred winner was that the Funtua Group edged Adrian Woods out of Management and turned him to an Insignificant Shareholder.

The second development was that the Funtua Group raided Keystone Bank again and forced the Bank to Pay 50 million Dollars as down payment for the acquisition of 9-Mobile.

The third issue was that Teleology Nigeria replaced Teleology Holdings to remove any influence of Adrian Woods from 9-Mobile totally. The fourth step taken the Funtua Group was to borrow 260 Million Dollars from African Exim Bank.

The fifth thing was to coerce NCC to approve the sale at all cost without meeting 90% of the conditions set up ab-initio by the NCC.

The sixth strange action of the Funtua Group was to force the board of NCC to approve the sale through the influence and pressure from the Presidency. And the seventh Funtua infraction was to use the influence of CBN to force the Banks to the table and waive their own conditions of sale of 9-Mobile to the Teleology Nigeria group.

Efforts to reach the acting Head media and publicity of Economic and financial crimes Commission,EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade to confirmed the latest developments proved abortive as his lines were not connecting.