Omokore opens up on oil swap deals

*$2.1bn arms probe: I don’t open President’s parcels—Jonathan’s ex-ADC By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor 

ABUJA— The Chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited, Mr. Jide Omokore, has reportedly been cooperating with operatives, who are probing him over multi-billion oil swap deals between his firm and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. Ibrahim Magu Omokore, an active player in the oil sector during the previous administration, was taken in by EFCC last week to assist them in unraveling how his firm won oil swap deals running into billions of dollars, and whether such money had been remitted to the coffers of the government.

A source confided in Vanguard last night: “We are trying to extract from him the quantity of oil his company was awarded under the oil swap deal and how much he has so far remitted to the government. “So far, he has been cooperating with our operatives but we have not extracted the exact figure of what the deals were worth; we are certainly making progress.” Asked if he would be charged to court over the deals, the source said the investigation had not progressed to where charges could be pressed yet. Omokore’s company was among those accused of lifting crude oil, worth billions of dollars, but only remitting a fraction of its worth to the government.

ACF, Ohanaeze condemn killing of unarmed MASSOB, IPOB members

*As IPOB accuses FG of plan to suffocate Kanu

By Emeka Mamah, Francis Igata & Chimaobi Nwaiwu
ENUGU—The Arewa Consultative Forum and Ohanaeze Ndigbo have condemned the killing of unarmed Biafran agitators by security agents and asked the Federal Government to release Nnamdi Kanu,Okechukwu Isiguzoro and other detained MASSOB agitators.

ACF National Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Coommasie made this known in Enugu yesterday while clarifying some of the issues discussed at a joint closed-door meeting of both ACF and Ohanaeze.Detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu in court

Corruption cuts across tribe, religion in Nigeria – VP Osinbajo

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA—Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said corrupt people pervades the social, economic, political and religious spheres of the country. He alleged that the people appeared to be united in corruption and would protect the identity of one another.Osinbajo Speaking at the annual dinner of Apostles in the Market Place, which had its theme as Change Agents in Nation-Building, the Vice President,

Russian supermarket under fire for selling ‘monkey Obama’ chopping board

An upscale Russian store chain apologised on Thursday for selling chopping boards with an image of US President Barack Obama as a monkey, after the US embassy reacted furiously. The product features a family of monkeys, with an image of Obama’s face superimposed onto that of the smallest primate. The store chain on Thursday announced it had pulled the item from its shelves, saying it had not been aware of Obama’s image.