EXCLUSIVE: Buhari drops Fashola’s candidate for NERC chair, picks MIT professor

Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande

President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, a professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as the executive chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

Akinwande (pictured) will succeed Sam Amadi whose tenure ended in 2015.

Babatunde Fashola, minister of works, power and housing, had preferred Olasupo Shasore, who was once attorney-general under him as governor of Lagos.

Shasore was one of the aspirants reportedly supported by Fashola for the APC governorship ticket in the state in 2015.

He and Femi Amzat, Fashola’s commissioner for works, were defeated by Akinwunmi Ambode, the preferred candidate of Bola Tinubu, a national leader of APC.

Ambode went ahead to win the election, but the relationship between Tinubu and Fashola has not improved since then.

Lagos axis

A presidency insider told TheCable that Shasore, a senior advocate of Nigeria, could not be picked because “the president does not want anything that will stoke tension in the Lagos axis again”.

It was widely reported last year that Tinubu did not support the appointment of Fashola as minister because of their strained relationship.

Bello Suleiman, an engineer and former minister of mines, power and steel development, was also suggested for the NERC slot but Buhari was not well disposed to him, TheCable understands.

Suleiman was minister in the Abdulsalami Abukakar military administration and became the MD of the National Electrical Power Authority (NEPA) – the predecessor of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) – under President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Diaspora delight

Presidency insiders told TheCable that Buhari personally sought out the NERC nominees as he is doing in critical areas of his administration.

“The president’s expectation is that with more professionals in his team, including those from the Diaspora, he will be able to deliver the goods in these critical areas,” a senior official said.

NERC, which regulates the power sector, is key to the resolution of the electricity crisis as the government has already privatised distribution and generation entities.

Only transmission is still under the control of the federal government and it is currently being managed by Manitoba of Canada on contractual basis.

Buhari sent the names of the nominees to the senate for confirmation before they embarked on their long recess on Thursday.

The New Commissioners

Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande:  He is a professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. He received a B.Sc. (1978) in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Ife, Nigeria, a MS (1981) and Ph.D. (1986) in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, California, according to his academic profile.

He joined Honeywell Inc. in 1986 where he initially conducted research on GaAs Complementary FET technology for very high speed and low power signal processing. He later joined the Si Microstructures group where he conducted research on pressure sensors, accelerometers, thin-film field emission and display devices.

Akinwande joined MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) in January 1995 where his research focuses on micro-fabrication and electronic devices with particular emphasis on smart sensors and actuators, intelligent displays, large area electronics (macro-electronics), field emission & field ionization devices, mass spectrometry and electric propulsion.

He is a recipient of the 1996 National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award. He has served a number of technical program committees for various conferences, including the Device Research Conference, the International Electron Devices Meeting, the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, the International Display Research Conference and the International Vacuum Microelectronics Conference.

Akinwande holds numerous patents in MEMS, Electronics on Flexible Substrates, Display technologies and has authored more than 100 journal publications. He was a visiting professor at the Cambridge University engineering department and an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College in 2002-2003.  He is a current member of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council.

He is from Offa, Kwara state.

Musiliu Olalekan Oseni (south-west nominee): BSc economics (first class) from University of Ibadan in 2007; MSc energy economics and policy (with distinction) from University of Surrey, UK, 2010 and PhD in business energy economic in 2015 from the University of Cambridge, UK. His doctorate thesis was on “Self-Generation and Payments for Quality of Service in Electricity Markets”.

Dafe C. Akpeneye (south-south nominee): A 2001 law graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University. Currently the Director, Regulatory Services/General Counsel, West Africa for PricewaterCoopers Nigeria.

Okafor Frank Nwoye (south-east nominee): He is a professor in the department of electrical engineering, University of Lagos. He is a specialist in power systems and control.

Sanusi Garba (north-west nominee): Bsc engineering, ABU, Zaria, 1974; master’s in industrial management, University of Birmingham, 1980.

Nathan Rogers Shatti (north-east nominee): Former commissioner for finance in Adamawa state. Fellow of Chartered Accountants, Shatti was formerly with Exxon Mobil in several countries in Europe and East Africa before becoming manager, treasury and banking services in Mobil Oil Nigeria PLC in 2006. He graduated in accounting from ABU in 1990.

Moses Arigu (north-central nominee): Currently the GCS Partner vice-president (capital markets technology and operations), Royal Bank of Canada. Before then (between 2007 and 2010), he was with JPMorgan Chase (Investment Bank, New York). He was also with Credit Suisse (Swiss Bank, New York), from 2005 to 2007.

Read More »

Legislators must refund salary collected for days they failed to sit, says Falana

Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has asked Ahmed Idris, accountant-general of the federation, to compel federal legislators to refund a chunk of the salaries received in the past year.

The human rights activist on Sunday, said the lawmakers had been paid for a year’s worth of work, despite sitting for less than the required 181 days.

He stressed that the labour policy of “no work no pay” is applicable to all public officers, hence the lawmakers should refund to the treasury, monies they were paid for services not rendered.

Falana made his position known in a lecture delivered as the investiture of Dele Ojogbede as President of Rotary Club, Ikoyi in Lagos.

“The APC-led National Assembly has also engaged in collecting jumbo emoluments for services not rendered to the nation.

“Whereas Section 63 of the Constitution provides that the Senate and the House of Representatives shall each sit for not less than 181 days in a year, Section 68 thereof states that any legislator who fails to attend the proceedings of the Senate for less than one third of the required number of days shall automatically lose his or her seat.

“For the first legislative year which ended on June 9, the Seventh session of the National Assembly did not meet the constitutional requirement. Specifically, due to incessant recesses, the House of Representatives sat for only 104 days while the Senate sat for 96 days. This means that the Senate sat for barely 50 per cent of the required sitting period.

“Indeed, some of the senators who had to attend criminal courts where they are standing trial for corrupt practices did not seat for up to 70 days throughout the legislative year.

“The Senate was actually shut down on a number of occasions to enable the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki to attend the proceedings of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) where he is standing trial for false declaration of assets. And in solidarity with him, a number of senators abandoned their duties to accompany him to the tribunal.

“Since the labour policy of “no work no pay” is applicable to all public officers the legislators ought not to have been paid when they did not perform any legislative duty. In other words, having failed to sit for the mandatory period of 181 days the legislators were not entitled to payment of full salaries and allowances for the whole legislative year.

“Having been paid full emoluments when they failed to sit for the required number of days, the legislators ought to refund some money to the treasury. In the circumstance, the Accountant-General of the Federation should ensure that the legislators are made to refund the money collected for the number of days they failed to sit in the National Assembly.”

Read More »

Campaign Promises: Buhari to meet APC governors

President Muhammadu Buhari has invited All Progressives Congress (APC) governors for a meeting on the need to speed up the pace of delivering campaign promises amid the poor economy.

The session, which will hold tomorrow in Abuja, may also discuss how to keep the party united and involve the governors on some key appointments.

Some of the governors were said to be concerned that they were being kept in the dark on some strategic appointments made from their states.

According sources, the notice of the meeting was sent to all the governors on Saturday through the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

The notice reads in part: “”I am directed inform you that there is a meeting of all APC Governors with HE President Muhammadu Buhari as follows:Time: 2.00 pm (Note that all Governors are requested to be seated not later than 1.30 pm) Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Venue: Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“I am directed to appeal to Your Excellency to please create time and attend as crucial matters of national importance will be deliberated upon.”

The letter to the APC governors was signed by the Director-General Progressive Governors Forum, Salihu Moh. Lukman.

But the letter was silent on the agenda of the meeting.

A governor, who spoke in confidence, said: “The meeting was at the instance of the President and we are suspecting that it might be a stock-taking session.

“We have not been able to interface with the President on the performance of the APC administration at the Federal and state levels in the last one year.

“You will recall that the President himself assured the nation that the second year of his government will be a turning point in the life of this country.

“So, we will use the opportunity to review our campaign promises, tell ourselves the truth and chart a way forward on how to fill in some governance gaps.”

The source spoke of “the crisis of confidence among our party leaders”, which he described as not encouraging.

“Our leaders are no longer as united as we were in 2015 when we defeated the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP). Some of us want us to reunite all groups.

“Some of the governors are also unhappy that they have not been carried along in some appointments conceded to their states,” the source added..

“Mr. President intends to make more appointments in the next few weeks, we hope to make some input to assist the President to make his choices,” he said.

Another source said: “I think the President may give us confidential briefing on certain things that have defined his administration like the oil crisis, threats by Niger Delta Avengers and agitators in the South-East, Boko Haram, strategic appointments, anti-corruption war and others.

“Also, developments in the National Assembly in the past few months call for concern too. Some APC members have become disloyal to the party.

“We need to retrace our steps on a few things and reunite the family. This is part of what we may tell our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari.”

Read More »

US Democratic Party chairman resigns in wake of email leak

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Embattled Democratic Party chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Sunday she is resigning, following a leak of emails suggesting an insider attempt to hobble the campaign of Hillary Clinton’s rival in the White House primaries Bernie Sanders.


Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida, will “step down as party chair at the end of this convention,” she said in a statement on the eve of the Democratic National Convention that is set to anoint Clinton as the party’s presidential nominee.

Her departure, long sought by Sanders, is aimed at drawing a line under the scandal as establishment Democrats seek desperately to unite the party behind the campaign of former secretary of state Clinton, who goes up against Republican Donald Trump in the November presidential election.

Read More »

Ekweremadu tells APC - 'I won’t quit as Saraki’s deputy,'

Ike Ekweremadu

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has said he will not resign from the office despite the insistence of the All Progressives Congress that he should be removed.

Ekweremadu who spoke through his media aide, Mr. Ismail Omipidan, told our correspondent on Sunday that he had no reason to step aside as the Deputy Senate President as he was duly elected into the office.

He recalled that several public office-holders had defected from the PDP to the APC without any noise from the latter.


He added that the APC had produced either the Speaker or Deputy Speaker in some states’ Houses of Assembly where the party was in the minority.

Ekweremadu recalled that the PDP had corrected the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, when he recently faulted his occupation of the office.

He said, “The call for Ekweremadu’s resignation also exposes the hypocrisy of some APC stalwarts. You will recall that when Tambuwal defected (from the PDP) to the APC, all the notable leaders of the party, including Lai Mohammed who was the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, stated clearly that there was nowhere in the constitution where it was stated that the Speaker (of the House of Representatives) must be produced by the majority party; that was their argument. (The current Majority Leader of the House) Femi Gbajabiamila also said so.

“What has now changed? The constitution has not been rewritten; it is the same constitution. And it is very clear that ‘the senators shall elect the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President from amongst themselves.’”

Omipidan also recalled that under the first tenure of Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, the ruling APC produced the speaker of the House of Assembly while an opposition party produced the deputy speaker. He also recalled that an opposition APC had produced either speakers or deputy speakers of Benue and Plateau states’ Houses of Assembly.

“Where you don’t have a clear majority, there has to be some alliances to make the legislative work go smoothly. These things happened in the states but they never raised eyebrows then,” he added.

One of the aides of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, stated that the APC currently lacked the popularity in the Senate to unseat Ekweremadu.

The source noted that removing Ekweremadu would be easier for the APC if all its members were on the same page, unlike their PDP counterparts who were united.

According to the source, it is a game of numbers.

“Today, the APC has a divided house while the PDP senators – over 40 of them – are all together, working together. It is a more complex issue,” the source said.

The source added that “it takes a simple majority to elect the senate president and the deputy senate president but it will take two-thirds of the senators to remove any of them, which the APC currently lacks.”

Confirming this, Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna-Central), told our correspondent on Sunday that it would be difficult for the APC to effect Ekweremadu’s removal when its senators had been factionalised.

He said, “The issue of removal of Ekweremadu; it is not impossible but it has a lot of consequences. You cannot achieve the removal of Ekweremadu until there is a united APC senators.”

Read More »

MEND confirms holding “preliminary” talks with Nigerian Government

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, has confirmed that it is indeed talking with the Federal Government of Nigeria as stated by President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Buhari had while bidding farewell to the outgoing German Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Zinner, on Thursday, said his administration was talking to Niger Delta militants through oil companies and law-enforcement agencies to find a lasting solution to insecurity in the region.

He also said the government was studying the instruments of the amnesty programme inherited from the previous administration with a view to carrying out commitments made that were undelivered.

“We understand their feelings,” the president said. “We are studying the instruments. We have to secure the environment; otherwise investment will not come. We will do our best for the country,” President Buhari said.

In a statement on Sunday, MEND’s spokesperson, Gbomo Jomo, said the group was having what it described as “preliminary” talks with the government through oil companies and law-enforcement agencies.

“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) wishes to confirm that indeed it has been in preliminary talks with the Federal Government through oil companies and law-enforcement agencies as revealed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, July 21, 2016,” MEND said.

“These preliminary talks are the precursor to a wider dialogue between the Federal Government and the MEND Aaron 2 peace initiative which will seek to find solutions to the short, medium and long-term future of the Niger Delta region.”

During the preliminary talks, the group said the government made it clear that it would not negotiate with criminals.

It listed groups and persons the government reportedly said it would not negotiate with to include Niger Delta Avengers, internet-based ‘militant’ groups such as Joint Revolutionary Council and the Ultimate Warriors.

Others are those it called opportunistic tribal assemblies, who it claimed were compromised to keep silent during the six years of the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, pirates, pipeline vandals, oil thieves, commercial kidnappers, waterway robbers, political thugs and miscreants.

Read More »

PICTURES: Ekiti residents queue to receive tuber of yams from Fayose

Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose yesterday continued his stomach infrastructure program by distributing tubers of yam to residents of Irona area of Ado Ekiti the state capital.

More Photos...

Read More »

I chained my son because he’s possessed with ‘stealing spirit’ – Pastor says

Controversial Pastor of The Key Joy Celestial Church, Francis Taiwo, who chained his 9-year-old son for several weeks, has confessed the reasons behind his action.

According to Mr. Taiwo, who was arrested on Sunday after initially attempting to escape law enforcement authorities said he took the action because he believed his son was possessed with a ‘stealing spirit’.

‘I chained my son because I felt he is possessed and I’m not comfortable with his stealing habit,” a police source present during his interrogation quoted the suspect as saying. He also told officials that he married Korede’s mother who bore four children for him before their divorce in 2007.

He said the victim’s mother, Marine Taiwo, was from Delta State and that Korede’s siblings were not living with him. The 40-year-old suspect, who hails from Benin Republic, said he was born in Ota Town of Ogun State.

He said he rose to be a pastor in the Celestial Church, CCC, and was ordained in 2012. The Church has already distanced itself from the controversial pastor. “All we can say is that the man is not a registered – or recognized – pastor in the CCC,” a church official sent from the Lagos headquarters told journalists on Saturday.

According to a police spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, Taiwo was said to be prosecuted once investigation is completed.

Read More »

Rv Mbaka blasts Jonathan - 'Your wasteful government plunged Nigeria into its present economic recession'

Controversial Enugu-based Catholic Priest,Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, on Sunday, during his homily at Adoration Ministry,Emene, Enugu, slammed former President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of having ran a wasteful government which plunged the nation into its present economic recession.

The cleric equally disclosed that he had nothing to regret over his 2015 prophesy of change, where he had predicted that President Jonathan would be defeated in the presidential elections. Continuing, he also, dismissed as baseless, claims that he fell apart with Jonathan over the latter’s refusal of his request for oil well.

Mbaka, who spoke through his spokesperson, Maximus Ugwuoke, on the sidelines of the activities ahead of his 21 years priestly ordination anniversary, said he would not regret the 2015 change prophesy despite the current sufferings Nigerians are experiencing. Instead, he recalled that he had also on several occasions released prophecies on the current hard times bedeviling the nation.

The priest, however, maintained that the previous administration, which squandered the resources at its disposal should be held responsible for the present situation.

According to Ugwuoke, “when these prophesies come, it must not be what people think or want; people are entitled to their views; those reactions mean nothing; the important thing is that there is nothing he had prophesized which never came to pass; the ministry does not care how people feel about his prophesies.

Some call him controversial priest; some call him fiery priest and all that, they are entitled to their opinion. The fact remains that he is a true prophet. “I will tell you something, it is for us humans to judge prophesies; he was the only person who said Buhari would win. If it were in the olden days, all those so-called men of God who castigated him would have received the wrath of God immediately. All of them should be ashamed of themselves now.

“When you look at that prophesy on Jonathan, he gave it and it came to pass. Don’t forget that two months before that prophesy, Jonathan’s wife came to the adoration ground; that is to tell you that the prophesy came from God; if after such visit, he had the courage to reveal such prophesy against them, that tells you that it is much more than what people think.

Whether the prophesy is a good one or not, talking about the suffering, it has nothing to do with the prophesy. “Before Buhari took over, the dollar was rising, there was already problem with our economy. They had oil boom but never saved; they just wasted the opportunity.

Even the suffering we are talking about was part of his prophesies. I recall that on 31st of January this year, he said clearly that Nigerians should brace up for hard times, he said a lot of hardship was under way; what these suffering Nigerians are passing through are a process of change.

I’m seeing a great future for Nigerians; he made it clear that there are so many holes which needed to be filled.” Request for oil well Speaking on stories making the rounds that Jonathan rejected his request for an oil well, he stated that, “these are lies from the pit of hell; these were used to water down the prophesy because people did not understand.

It was even alleged that he received N5 million from Buhari; you begin to wondwer what is N5 million to Mbaka. Is it the school fees he is paying for hundreds of people? This is all propaganda.”

“There was also these claims of meeting with APC chieftains before the election; he never held any such meeting; he never met Buhari before the election, there has never been any communication between them; what he has already is bigger than oil well; he is a musician and the ministry is being sustained with that”.

Read More »

Buhari challenges Babangida, Gusau - 'Tell the truth on why you carried out a coup against me in 1985'

Thirty one years after his administration was toppled in a military coup, President Muhammadu Buhari has finally opened up on why he was sacked.

Buhari said in an exclusive interview granted The Interview, that he was removed from office because he was planning to purge the military hierarchy of corruption.


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, Buhari challenged 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.ng, the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Interview, Azu Ishiekwene, said, “This is one edition that won’t let sleeping dogs lie.” But in an earlier edition of the magazine last December, Babangida had said that that there was nothing in the memo which Buhari said he submitted to the Army council. IBB said: “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.” But in a tone which suggested that the past may neither have been forgotten nor forgiven, Buhari challenged 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 Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola was handed three ministerial portfolios.

Read More »