BlackBox Nigeria

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BY Moses Adeyemi

The Spain striker spoke of his pleasure at returning to Atletico Madrid - seven years after leaving the Vicente Calderon for Liverpool.

Torres has expressed his delight at agreeing a deal to join Atletico Madrid on loan from AC Milan until the end of next season.

The striker struggled to make an impact in Italy after joining the Rossoneri from Chelsea in August, scoring just one goal in 10 Serie A appearances before the winter break.

After agreeing a permanent transfer to the Italian club, the 30-year-old will now return to the Vicente Calderon until the end of next season and he revealed his elation at the move, which will officially be completed on January 5 when the transfer market reopens in Italy.

"I'm happy because I've said many, many times that I can't hide where I come from. It's an honour to be a part of Atletico Madrid.

"I made my dream come true when I played my first game for them at 17. I tried to go back to the first division but I couldn't lead the team back to Europe and I left because we both understood it was best for both.

"It is seven and a half years since I left, but the passion to play for Atletico was always there. I have been waiting for that time for many years.

"It is difficult to explain with words how I feel right now. I can't wait to land in Madrid."

The Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, is currently investigating the murder of one Moses Sunday, who was allegedly killed by his 21-year-old son in his three-bedroom apartment at Flat 6, 286 Jakande Estate, Mile 2 on November 6.
Vanguard gathered that the deceased was based in Nasarawa State, where he worked as a mechanical engineer in a company before relocating to Lagos to live with his family about three months.

According to reports, the victim, his wife Funmilayo Tifase, their 26-year-old graduate daughter and their only son, Oluropo, retired to bed that night before the unfortunate incident happened.
When his wife woke at 6a.m., she went to her husband's bedroom and found him dead with a scissors stuck in his throat and raised alarm.
It was gathered that the neighbours alerted the Festac Divisional Police who arrested the deceased wife, daughter and son before the case was transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Yaba for detailed investigation.
Although Oluropo denied murdering his father, investigations are said to be pointing towards him, as it was discovered that their apartment was not burgled.

It was furthered gathered that Oluropo was a university student before he was rusticated for cult-related activities in 400 level.
His parents later enrolled him into NIIT, ICT programme, to get him occupied instead of wasting away at home.

The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Jumoke Akinjide, says the people of Lagos State should blame the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) for the heavy traffic motorists face every day.

She said when Buhari was the Head of State between December 1983 and August 1985, he terminated the Lagos Metroline project initiated by the Alhaji Lateef Jakande administration to ease traffic in the metropolis.

Akinjide said this in a statement on Monday.

She said by so doing, Buhari truncated the opportunity of a free-flow of traffic within the metropolis and by extension, the economic growth of the South-West.

She said the countries that were nowhere near the growth attained by the South-West when the APC presidential candidate stopped Metroline project had since advanced to become world economic powers.

She said the Lagos metro rail line was designed by the Jakande government to facilitate transport within Lagos and its surroundings but was terminated when Buhari military regime took over.

She said, "The visionary Jakande administration had concluded all the plans to finance the project, putting everything in place for its successful execution. My father provided the legal frame work in his capacity as the Attorney General at the time, and the state government had deposited $50m after securing a $450m loan at six per cent fixed interest rate for 25 years."

Punch

No fewer than 70,000 civil servants in 30 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government have yet to receive their three months' salaries.

The Secretary-General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Mr. Alade Lawal, made this known   just as investigations revealed that states like Osun, Oyo, Benue and Plateau are owing their workers between three and four months' salaries.

Prominent among the ministries listed by Lawal during an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Monday are Education, Works, Labour and Productivity, Mines and Power.

He said, "About eight MDAs have been owing workers their salaries from   October. The number rose to 11 in November and in December, hit 30, including departments and agencies."

Asked what was responsible for the increase in the number of MDAs indebted to their workers, Lawal said some government officials involved in salary payments were engaged in a game of deceit.

He said, "They are telling us that some of the MDAs are involved in expenditure items different from salaries. They said they were spending on items not related to salaries. But that is not supposed to be the fault of the workers.

"There should be synergy in government whereby they have to work in tandem with the Budget Office and Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. They know what they are doing, they are muddling up the whole exercise and suffering workers unnecessarily."

He said the government had no tangible reason for not paying the workers, having promised to do so before December 24.

"As of   December 22, they promised us that before Wednesday, December 24, these payments would be made. But as I am talking to you now, affected workers have not been paid.

"The Ministry of Works alone has about 26,000 workers. If you add them together, they can't be less than 70,000 workers that are affected.

"We have been liaising with our people. But you know, this is a festive period and it has affected some of the trade union actions we intended taking. The promise that they made last week which they also told the press that they would pay before Christmas, we thought they were serious about it. But latest developments indicate that they are   deceiving us."

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had in a statement by her Special Adviser on Communication, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, on December 22 promised that the   salary arrears of civil servants in MDAs would be paid before Christmas.

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The National Chairman of the opposition All Progressive Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has revealed that only corrupt Nigerians are opposing the candidature of General Muhammadu Buhari.

He made this assertion on Monday during a media chat disclosing that "The only people I can think of, who will fear the Buhari Presidency are those who do not want change; they are those who want to continue with business as usual; they are those who want to continue to profit from the level of corruption in the society. We will have no apologies for people like that."
"But it is clear that from the Buhari's perspective and that of the APC, the future of the people of this country is too important for us to spend valuable time trying to dig into the past."

He made this statement in Benin where he maintained that the belief in political quaters that on emergence General Buhari would probe previous office holders was not really the overall intention of the party as the APC isn't interested in the past but how to focus on the future.

Chief Odigie-Oyegun further lambasted President Jonathan's public affairs adviser, Doyin Okupe for comparing the President to Jesus Christ saying: "it is the highest blasphemous comment and the highest level of sycophancy I have ever heard. They will be swept out by the power of the people and God," he stated.

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This is getting serious as just yesterday it was reported that President Jonathan running mate and Vice President of the country, Arch. Namadi Sambo had disclosed that all his academic credentials (BSc, MSc) were destroyed in a fire incident sometimes ago.

Again BlackBox Nigeria has obtained as being reported by a popular national newspaper that the candidate of the opposition APC also do not have his academic credentials. General Buhari it was reported told INEC that his academic certificates are with the Nigerian Military which he served before venturing into politics. Buhari whose qualifications was not displayed alongside other candidates at the INEC headquarters disclosed that his certificates were with the Secretary, Military Board.

He swore in an affidavit made available to INEC that "I am the above-named person and deponent to this affidavit therein. All my academic qualifications documents as filled in my presidential form, President APC/001/2015, are currently with the Secretary, Military Board as of the time of presenting this affidavit. The affidavit is made in good faith and for record purpose."

While this might necessarily not be an issue considering the fact that the General rose to the very top in the Nigerian military, one wonders if it is the trend for military personells to submit their original certificates with the Army and not get it back even after leaving the military.

The Presidential elections comes up on February 14 and although there are 13 candidates, it is generally believed that the main battle is between incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the PDP and General Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.