American Missionary Kidnapped in Nigeria

LAGOS, Feb 24 - An American woman working as a Christian missionary in Nigeria was kidnapped overnight, the website of the Free Methodist Church and a security source said on Tuesday.

"Early this morning we received a report that Rev. Phyllis Sortor, our missionary in Nigeria, was abducted from the Hope Academy compound in Emiworo, Kogi State, Nigeria by several persons," the church said.

Nigeria is one of the world's worst country's for kidnapping, a major criminal enterprise that makes millions of dollars a year. Criminal gangs have kidnapped scores of expatriates in southern and central Nigeria over the years. Central Kogi state has also had low level activity by Islamist militants linked to insurgent group Boko Haram, security sources say.

A U.S. State Department official said authorities had heard the reports but could not make further comments in the interest of privacy.

 (Reuters)

Owners of Oil Blocks In Nigeria

It’s more news the North wants GEJ out of the way, so their licenses can be renewed cos most of them are expiring from 2016 upwards. Monumental injustice is being perpetrated to the people of Niger Delta on whose soil the oil was found.

These people constitutes the main opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan today. Please Read on:

(1) This oil block business is so lucrative that Danjuma’s Sapetro divested of its investment in Akpo condensate for $1billion dollars. This business is second to none in Nigeria. That is why any attempt to investigate the activities in this sector will always be futile. The money is so much that they give bribes in millions of dollars. A birthday gift or child naming gift from an oil block owner to a government official could be as paltry as $2million dollars, and if the official’s father died, the condolence gift could reach mere $3 million dollars. When they want to bribe legislators, it is in millions of dollars and any ongoing investigation ends within weeks. They are so confident that with excess money they can buy up Nigeria and they are succeeding

(2) OML 110 with high yield OBE oil fields was given Cavendish Petroleum owned by Alhaji Mai Daribe, the Borno Patriarch in 1996 by Sanni Abacha. OBE oil field has estimated over 500 million barrels of oil. In layman’s language and using average benchmark of $100 dollars per barrel, translates to $50 billion dollars worth of oil reserve. When you remove the taxes, royalties and sundry duties worth about 60% of the reserve payable over time you get about $20billion dollars worth of oil in the hands of a family.

(3) OPL 246 was awarded to SAPETRO, a company owned by General Theophilus Danjuma, by Sanni Abacha in 1998. Akpo condensate exports about 300,000 barrels of crude daily.

(4) NOML 112 and OML 117 were awarded to AMNI International Petroleum Development Company owned by Colonel Sanni Bello in 1999. Sanni Bello is an inlaw to Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Head of State of Nigeria.

(5) OML 115, OLDWOK Field and EBOK field was awarded to Alhaji Mohammed Indimi from Niger State. Indimi is an inlaw to former Military President Ibrahim Babangida.

(6) OML 215 is operated by Nor East Petroleum Limited owned by Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Gambo.

(7) OML 108 is operated by Express Petroleum Company Limited is owned by Alhaji Aminu Dantata.

(8) cool OML II3 allocated to Yinka Folawiyo Pet Ltd is owned by Alhaji W.I. folawiyo.

(9)ASUOKPU/UMUTU marginal oil fields is operated by Seplat Petroleum. Seplat is owned by Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero, cousin to the Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi. This oil field has the capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil daily. This translates to $30million dollars daily at average benchmark of $100 dollars per barrel. Deducting all sundry taxes, royalties etc , this field can yield $12billion dollars daily for the owners .

(10)Intel owned by Atiku, Yarádua and Ado Bayero has substantial stakes in Nigeria’s oil exploration industry both in Nigeria and Principe and Sao Tome.

(11) AMNI owns two oil blocks OML 112 and OML 117 which it runs Afren plc and Vitol has substantial stakes in oil blocks. Afren plc is operating EBOK oil fields in OML 67. Vitol lifts 300,000 barrels of Nigerian oil daily. Rilwanu Lukman, former OPEC Chairman has stakes in all these named three companies.

(12) OPL 245 was awarded to Malabu Oil& Gas Company by Sanni Abacha. Dan Etete, Abacha’s oil minister owns Malabu Oil. In 2000, Vice President Atiku Abubakar convinced Obasanjo to revoke OPL 245 given to Malabu Oil. Etete had earlier rejected Atiku’s demand for substantial stakes in the high yield OPL 245 and it attracted the venom of Ota Majesty who revoked the licence. However, in 2006, Obasanjo had mercy on Dan Etete and gave him back his oil block worth over $20 billion dollars.

(13) OPL 289 and OPL 233 was awarded during Obasanjo era to Peter Odili fronts, Cleanwater Consortium, consisting of Clenwater Refinery and RivGas Petroleum and Gas Company. Odili’s brother in law, Okey Ezenwa manages the consortium as Vice Chairman.

(14) OPL 286 is managed by Focus Energy in partnership with BG Group, a British oil concern. Andy Uba has stakes in Focus Energy and his modus operandi is such that you can never see his name in any listings yet he controls OPL and OML through proxies

(15)OPL 291 was awarded to Starcrest Energy Nigeria Limited, owned by Emeka Offor by Obasanjo . Immediately after the award, Starcrest sold the oil block to Addax Petroleum Development Company Limited (ADDAX) Addax paid Sir Emeka Offor a farming fee of $35million dollars and still paid the signature bonus to the government. Emeka Offor still retains stake in ADDAX operations in Nigeria.

(16) Mike Adenuga’s Conoil is the oldest indigenous oil exploration industry in Nigeria. Conoil has six oil blocks and exports above 200,000 barrels of crude daily.

(17)The oil block national cake sharing fiesta could take twists according to the mood of the Commander-in –Chief at the particular time. In 2006, Obasanjo revoked OPL 246 which Abacha gave to Danjuma because he refused to support the tenure elongation bid of the Ota Majesty. In 2000, Obasanjo had earlier revoked OPL 241 given to Dan Etete under the advice Atiku. However, when the Obasanjo-Atiku faceoff started, the Ota Majesty made a u-turn and handed back the oil block to Etete.

(18)During the time of Late President Yarádua , a panel headed by Olusegun Ogunjana was set up to investigate the level of transparency in the award of oil blocks. The panel recommended that 25 oil blocks awarded by the Obasanjo be revoked because the manner they were obtained failed to meet the best practices in the industry. Sadiq Mahmood, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum endorsed the report to then president with all its recommendations. As a result of the report Yarádua revoked eleven oil blocks.

(19) In April 2011 Mike Adenuga attempted to buy Shell’s OML 30 for $1.2 billion dollars. The Minister for Petroleum and Nigeria’s most powerful woman refused the sale of the OML30 to Adenuga citing national interest. This block was later sold to Heritage Oil for $800 million dollars eleven months later.

(20) In the name of competitive bidding, which Obasanjo introduced in 2005, Officials bring companies overnight and through processes best described as secretive and voodooist they award blocks to party faithful, fronts and phoney companies. They collect gratifications running into hundreds of millions of dollars which is paid into offshore account and the nation loses billions of dollars of revenue to private pockets.

During the third term agenda, Obasanjo was deceived that the allocation of oil block to party faithfuls is to fund the third term agenda. With the failure of the third term, the beneficiaries went home with their fortunes and thanked God or Allah for buttering their bread. Senator Andy Uba co ordinate the award of the last rounds of oil block by Obasanjo in 2005 and 2007. The then minister of petroleum, Edwin Daukoru was a mere errand boy who took instructions from the presidential aide

The process of sharing Nigeria’s oil block national cake is as fraudulent now as when Ibrahim Babangida started the process of discretionary allocation of oil blocks to indigenous firms. Discretionary allocation of oil blocks entails that a president can reward a mistress who performs wonderfully with an oil block with capacity for cumulative yield of over $20 billion dollars without recourse to any process outside of manhood attachments.

Babangida, Abacha, Abdulsalami and Obasanjo awarded discretionary oil blocks to friends, associates, family members, party chieftains, security chiefs and all categories of bootlickers, spokespersons and cult members without any laid down procedures. The recipients of such oil blocks will get funds from ever willing offshore financiers and partners to graciously settle the benefactors, the awarders, facilitators and the Commander-in-Chief through fronts. These settlements mostly paid into foreign accounts runs into hundreds of millions of dollars according to the potential yield of the block.

Culled from How Babangida, Abubakar, Abacha, Obasanjo Shared Nigeria’s Oil Blocks – Written by Obinna Akukwe

Nigeria Postpones Elections by Six Weeks

Nigeria's electoral commission will postpone Feb. 14 presidential and legislative elections for six weeks to give a new multinational force time to secure northeastern areas under the sway of Boko Haram, an official close to the commission told The Associated Press on Saturday. Millions could be disenfranchised if the voting went ahead while the Islamic extremists hold a large swath of the northeast and commit mayhem that has driven 1.5 million people from their homes.

The Nigerian official, who is knowledgeable of the discussions, said the Independent National Electoral Commission will announce the postponement later Saturday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Officials in President Goodluck Jonathan's administration have supported postponing the Feb. 14 vote. Any delay is opposed by an opposition coalition fielding former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari, though the opposition stands to take most votes in the northeast.

Supporters of both sides are threatening violence if their candidate does not win. Some 800 people were killed in riots in the mainly Muslim north after Buhari, a Muslim, lost 2011 elections to Jonathan, a Christian from the south. Analysts say the vote is too close to call, the most tightly contested election since decades of military dictatorship ended in 1999.

STATUS REPORT

*Over 45million PVCs collected *Non-guarantee of security *Training manual not ready *Presiding Officers yet to be trained

*700,000 ad hoc staff not recruited yet *PVCs still being printed abroad *RECs yet to print Voter Register *Printers for Register still in Abuja

*No full complement of ballot boxes *Fake printing ink sent to states from headquarters rejected *Many states yet to get balance of Card Readers

The presidential and National Assembly elections, earlier slated for Saturday, February 14, 2015, will now hold on Saturday, March 28, 2015.

The governorship and state legislative elections will hold on April 11, 2015.

This shift in dates was announced yesterday by Professor Attahiru Jega, National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

He made the announcement at a world press conference, invoking the provisions of the following in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended: Section 76(2), Section 116(2), Section 132(2) Section 178(2).

He also quoted Section 25 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

The Commission Chairman explained that INEC was prepared but the security challenge and the need not to deploy men and materials when the security agencies had issued an advisory.

Source:AP

Ugandan Clergy and family found murdered in Houston

A Houston priest, his wife and their young son were found dead in their apartment Monday, victims of a homicide that has shaken the city's Episcopal community as police search for the killer, and a motive. The Rev. Israel Ahimbisibwe, 52, a towering and highly educated clergyman from Uganda, served as a chaplain at the University of Houston and pastored part-time at a small church, where members said they grew worried after he didn't show up to lead their Sunday afternoon services. 

They went to his apartment, and when no one answered, they contacted the building's management, who called authorities. Ahimbisibwe's congregation, the Church of the Redeemer, confirmed that the he'd been killed, along with his wife, Dorcus, and 5-year-old son, Jay. Ahimbisibwe and his wife also had two adult sons, Emmanuel and Issac, who were not living at the apartment at the time. One reportedly attends boarding school in California and the other had recently announced he was joining the Marines.

In Houston's tight-knit Episcopal community, Ahimbisibwe was known as a soft-spoken but charismatic workhorse who often held several un-glamorous part-time jobs simultaneously. He was passionate and animated, but he spoke with an accent that was sometimes difficult for older parishioners to understand. That became an issue at the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, where he led Sunday morning services and taught bible classes.

Source: NBCNEWS

ISIS burns captured Jordanian pilot alive

Militants fighting for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have released a video they claim shows Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh being burned alive while locked in a cage. The footage, which is titled 'Healing the Believers Chests' appears to show the captured airman wearing an orange jumpsuit as a trail of petrol leading up to the cage is seen being set alight. Flames are seen quickly spreading to the cage where they engulf the helpless pilot.

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