Sahara Reports | Nigerian Political and Breaking News

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The Director General of the IBB 2011 Presidential Campaign Organization, High Chief Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi was invited Sunday, 3rd October 2010 by the State Security Services [SSS] to report to their headquarters by 11am Monday, 4th October 2010. As a law-abiding citizen, he promptly complied and reported to the State Security Services headquarters by 10:00  am this morning as directed.

Press Statement: Arrest Of Raymond Dokpesi, Babangida Reacts

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Saharareporters, New York - The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has suspended the former Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa as a "Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)," pending investigations over a petition submitted by the Committtee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) requesting his removal as a SAN.

BREAKING NEWS:  Aondoakaa Suspended As SAN

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                                                                                                 By SaharaReporters, New York                   Nigerian pro-democracy activists based in New York today warned governors and other public office holders planning to visit the city to participate in the annual Independence anniversary celebration to steer clear of the city and remain at home in Nigeria.

Activists Plan "Free Nigeria Rally", Warn Nigerian Governors Against Visiting New York For "Independence Day Parade"

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Robert Palmer - British high street banks have accepted millions of pounds in deposits from corrupt Nigerian politicians, raising serious questions about their commitment to tackling financial crime, warned Global Witness in a report published today. By taking money from corrupt Nigerian governors between 1999 and 2005, Barclays, NatWest, RBS, HSBC and UBS helped to fuel corruption and entrench poverty in Nigeria.

     
British Banks Complicit In Nigerian Corruption, Court Documents Reveal-GlobalWitness Report

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SaharaReporters, New York - Despite promises made to the organizers of the annual independence day parade in New York city, not a single Nigerian state governor showed yesterday up at the Nigerian House venue of the ceremonial salute after members of the Nigeria Democratic Liberty Forum (NDLF) issued a statement warning state governors to stay away from the event.

Nigerian Governors Keep Off Nigeria Independence Day Parade In New York Over Protests

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Saharareporters, New York - London cemented its reputation as the money laundering capital of the World and as corrupt Nigerian politicians' laundry place of choice in 2001 when the UK's financial services regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), announced that UK banks helped the former Nigerian head of state, late Sanni Abacha, his family members, and close associates to launder $1.3 billion between 1996 and 2000.

London Games: Financial Services Authority Investigation Into UK Banks Helping Abacha Launder Money

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Njadvara Musa And Jon Gambrell (Associated Press Writers) - GAMBORU, Nigeria – Rioters set a police station ablaze in northern Nigeria near where a radical Islamic sect operates, a police spokesman said Tuesday. The attack was similar to one that sparked a wave of violence last year that left more than 700 people dead.

                                                         
Boko Haram: Rioters Burn Police Station in Northern Nigeria-AP

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GIN – More than 100 African scholars and human rights defenders are demanding the cancellation of a UNESCO science prize named for the president of Equatorial Guinea.

 
African Leaders Blast UNESCO Prize Named For Despot

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SaharaReporters, New York -  The hoax trial of so-called Halliburton bribe-takers in Nigeria, which was first reported by SaharaReporters only five weeks ago, on September 5, predictably collapsed today as the Goodluck Jonathan government formally withdrew charges against almost all the individuals accused of collecting bribes.


At the Federal High Court in Abuja, only Bodunde Adeyanju, who ran bank errands for President Olusegun Obasanjo in his heydays in Aso Rock, remained charged by the police prosecutor, but he, too, enjoyed an easy time before the judge after pleading non-guilt and received lenient bail conditions.

Today's validation of our story that the Jonathan regime was creating a hoax trial is the latest in a series of developments since the former Vice-President assumed office that confirm he has no true intention of combating corruption.  Upon his first visit to the United States, he told President Obama and interest groups such as Nigerians in the country and the Council on Foreign Relations that he would be relentless in fighting corruption.

And last month, as he planned a trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Jonathan government continued to create the impression that it was serious about prosecuting Halliburton bribe-takers.  Indeed, the "start" of the prosecution was in the first draft of the Jonathan speech to the Assembly, but was eliminated later. 

Halliburton Trial Collapses As FG Withdraws Charges Against Bribe Takers

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Prize is an Affront to Efforts to Promote Human Rights and Good Governance in the Continent



Citizens of Equatorial Guinea and prominent African figures including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Graça Machel, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, and author Chinua Achebe wrote to UNESCO's Executive Board today urging them to cancel definitively the UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Prize for Research in the Life Sciences.

The letter, signed by 127 African laureates, scholars, human rights defenders, and citizens of Equatorial Guinea, cited the record of serious abuses and mismanagement of the country's wealth by the eponymous funder of the prize, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.

UNESCO: Africans Urge Cancellation of Obiang Prize