$2b Arms Scandal: EFCC Set To Probe Bode George, Odili Following Dasuki’s Confession

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may be preparing to summon for questioning Chief Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Odili, the former Rivers state governor, over reports that they were implicated in the $2billion arms deal scandal for which former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki is being probed.

According to The Nation, Major General Sarkin-Yaki Bello, a former general officer commanding of 82 Division, may also be invited for questioning as the trio are reportedly being watched by the anti-graft agency.

Although none of them has been arrested, Chief George was said to have denied knowing Dasuki, while Odili and Bello were not reachable for comment.

Dasuki, whom EFCC sources had credited with making extraordinary confessions, had through his lawyer on Thursday, December 3, 2015, denied ever implicating anyone in the phoney deals, the while former Sokoto state governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, also said he never collected any money for the supposed ‘spiritual purpose’.

But following Dasuki’s confessions, three bank accounts belonging to the former office of the national security adviser (ONSA)’s finance director, Shaibu Salisu, have been frozen as part of the ongoing probe of the $2 billion arms contracts.

The Nation also reports that the agency has invoked the interim assets forfeiture clause in its Establishment Act to seize three duplexes worth N810million in Lake View Estate in Abuja, which were also allegedly traced to Salisu.

EFCC has since secured a court order to remand some suspects in custody, including Dasuki. Others are Bafarawa, the former minister Bashir Yuguda, Raymond Dokpesi and 18 unnamed people.

Salisu was said to have allegedly diverted government funds and made illegal payments to his companies from the office of the national security adviser’s accounts, and some documents discovered by The Nation indicated that four slush companies, Fanskan Exquisite Travel Tours, Starr Concrete Blocks PPTYS, Fanskan Exquisite Limited and Musim Ventures, were traced to Salisu.

Speaking on these new revelations, a senior source at the EFCC said: “We have frozen three key accounts of a former director of Finance of ONSA. By the time the figures are collated, we will tell you the actual amount. But out of N600million deposited in one of the accounts on October 2, 2014, about N100million was  given to one Alhaji Bashir.

“All the three banks involved have been asked to put PNB on the accounts.

“As I am talking to you, we have invoked the Interim Assets Forfeiture Clause to seize three duplexes(at N270million each) at Lake View Estate, Jabi which were traced to Salisu.”

And following the mention of George, Odili and Bello as some of the beneficiaries of the arms cash bazaar by some suspects, the EFCC source added that “we are putting them under watch until there is sufficient ground to either invite or arrest them.

“Certainly, there are some allegations but none of them has been fully implicated or arrested. And we have not invited any of them for questioning.”

On when some high-profile suspects will be granted bail, the source said: “Well, we have secured a court order to remand in custody some suspects, including  Dasuki, Bafarawa, Yuguda, Dokpesi and 18 others.

“We don’t want to release them in a manner that will jeopardise the ongoing investigation. Some of them have mentioned a few individuals and corporate organisations and we need to conduct due diligence.

“For instance, Dokpesi admitted collecting N2.1billion for publicity. We have asked him to produce evidence of award of the contract, the terms of the contract, the schedule of execution and how the contract was related to arms purchase.

“The media owner also gave some evidence and we have to get in touch with those concerned and organisations to verify his claims.

“For a while, the suspects will be with us and we will treat them well, in line with international best practices.”

The EFCC has also reportedly written to some media owners to clarify what  Dokpesi meant by being ’embedded in various organizations’.
“In making up his defence, Dokpesi told interrogators that he was embedded in some media organisations.

“We don’t know what he meant and we have written the affected media to explain if they were given any share of the N2.1billion for publicity,” he added.

Shocking Dangers Associated With Consumption Of Catfish

The fact that it is affordable when compared to other varieties of fish in the market makes it more popular. However, research has shown that consumption of catfish is not so healthy. While medics assert that fish is a better and healthier option than meat, it seems quite a lot of people didn’t wait to hear the other part of the medical advice that not all types of fish are good for the heart.
According to expert advice, the omega 6 fatty acids in catfish can increase your risk of getting blood clots, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and some cancers? In fact, nutritionists say that catfish is loaded with bad fat and high cholesterol that encourage clotting of the blood, a condition whereby blood flow is impeded. This may lead to cardiac arrest, thrombosis and, in some cases, heart attacks.

A cardiologist, Dr. Jane Anisulowo, who talked to The Punch recently said that farmed or home-grown catfish is the worst example in this regard, as it contains more fatty hormones than the ones harvested from natural water. “Fish is better than meat, no doubt. It digests easily and it contains proteins. However, catfish is not really a good option, especially the ones they sell these days, which are cultivated with hormonal feeds that are filled with steroids and other fattening chemicals just to make them profitable. These chemicals are cancerous in nature.

“Also, they contain so much oil that you can almost taste it. Fish, generally, contains oil, but catfish has oil in its skin. That is what makes it so oily and unhealthy. It also contains a lot of poly unsaturated fat that does not only make you fat but also settles in the blood stream. That is very dangerous because when blood fails to get to an organ, it fails and suffers paralysis.”

A study which was conducted by the National Institute of Health in 2012, using over 1000 species of the fish in different water shows that catfish contains a high amount of unfavourable omega-6 fat that causes inflammation in the body. Three-ounce portion of catfish contains the same amount of bad fats found in red meat. This is not to say that one should give up eating the fish as catfish contains some nutrients such as Omega3 fatty acids that are good for the body.

Anisulowo, however, advised: “If you can get the one from the river, which is rare in most cities, then you may eat it twice a month. But if the only one you can get is the one that is being reared by farmers, you don’t have to eat at all, or just eat it when it is partially smoked. In that way, some of the fats would have been lost in the process. Better still, there are some other species of fish that are oily but they contain good fats and are more nutritious.”

Instead of regular consumption of catfish, here are some other species that you can add to your diet:

Mackerel

It is popularly called Titus fish in Nigeria. The oily meat found on mackerel is its main health benefit. It lowers triglycerides. High levels of triglycerides in the body have been linked to heart disease and strokes. The most common causes of a high triglyceride level are obesity and poorly maintained diabetes, mainly stemming from an inactive lifestyle.

Tilapia

Tilapia is a high-quality fish. It has proteins and contains all the essential amino acids your body requires from food diet to help to build proteins. One portion of tilapia cooked using dry heat contains about 26 grammes of protein. It also helps in weight control.

Gay Actors Who Play Straight Characters

Acting is all about adopting an imagined mindset and matching the external behaviors of the character portrayed. Even today, certain recesses of society has marked homosexuality as taboo, forcing gay actors to conform to public’s norm. However, nowadays, many gay actors are open about their sexuality and only pretend to be straight when the camera is rolling on a straight character.

                 1. Neil Patrick Harris
The swagger, style and general coolness of Barney Stinson, character in CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother lines up perfectly with actor Neil Patrick Harris’s overall public persona. But, while Barney is an unashamed pick-up artist and womanizer, Harris is in a committed relationship with actor David Burtka.

                2. Jodie Foster
Saying she’s fought for privacy since being a child star as a young prostitute in Taxi Driver, Foster finally acknowledged her former life partner, Sydney Bernard in her speech at the 2013 Gordon Globes.

                  
               3. Ian McKellen
While Gandalf transcends sexuality as a wise wizard, Mckellan has been openly gay for years, and publicly mentioned it on the talk show Anderson.

              
              4. Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon portrayed Miranda Hobbes in famed Sex and the City, in which four female friends search New York City for sex, men, and happiness. In real life, Nixon’s search for love ended up including a member of the same sex, since coming out as bisexual. Nixon, now married to Christine Marinoni, explained, “I’ve been with men all my life, and I’d never fallen in love with a woman. But when I did, it didn’t seem so strange. I’m just a woman in love with another woman.”

                         5. Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin plays the wife and one half of the philosophical duo with Dustin Hoffman, among many other heterosexual appearances. In real life, Tomlin has been with Jane Wagner since 1971.

                    6. Jim Parsons
Best known for playing Sheldon Cooper on CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, Jim Parson  also played a character dating Zach Braff’s character’s mom in Garden State. In reality, Parsons doesn’t date women at all. He came out in 2012, revealing he’s been in a relationship with a man for 10 years.

                     7. Victor Garber
Though he’s played straight roles in Sleepless in Seattle, Legally Blonde, and Alias, Victor Garber has been open about his sexuality, coming out publicly in 2012.

                      8. Matt Bomer
In 2009, Bomer landed his first leading role as heartthrob con-man, Neal Caffrey, who falls in love with beautiful women while internally struggling between choosing a clean life over a criminal one. In reality, Bomer is happily married to publicist Simon Halls.

                         9. Raven Symone
The cute child of The Cosby Show and star of That’s So Raven, Raven Symone hasn’t yet come out publicly, but is said to be dating Azmarie Livingston, a contestant on America’s Next Top Model.

Man’s hoard of nearly 5,000 guns shows ease of amassing arms in U.S.

As sheriff’s investigators threaded past the battered cars, cast-off tires and rusted farm equipment cluttering Brent Nicholson’s front yard, there was no hint of the sinister stockpile hidden behind his windowless front door.

Inside, the guns were everywhere: rifles and shotguns piled in the living room, halls and bedrooms; handguns littering tables and countertops. Outside, when they rolled up the door on the pre-fab metal garage, more arms spilled out at their feet.

“This has completely changed our definition of an ass-load of guns,” said Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks. Six weeks after the discovery, officers are still cataloging the weapons, many of which have proved stolen, and the final tally is expected to be close to 5,000. “I don’t know if there’s ever been (a seizure) this big anywhere before,” Brooks says.

The question of how one man amassed such a stockpile of guns arises just as there is renewed American soul-searching over the widespread availability of firearms in the wake of a series of mass shootings.

Even in a country where more people own more guns than anywhere else in the world, Nicholson's cache is extraordinary. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives doesn't rank gun seizures by size, but a spokesman says Nicholson's hoard probably is among the largest ever.

Yet when and why Nicholson set out to amass such an arsenal remains a mystery. Investigators are trying to determine whether he was simply a gun-obsessed hoarder or a supply valve in the “Iron Pipeline” of illegal firearms flowing from the south to New Jersey, New York and other northern states.

Nicholson, jailed on multiple charges of possessing stolen property, has not entered a plea or retained an attorney, court records show. His wife, Sharon Nicholson, facing similar charges and free on bond, declined to discuss specifics of the case but stressed in a brief interview that her husband buys his guns legally.

The Nicholson case raises issues that are fueling an increasingly heated national dialogue on the modern-day implications of Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms, which puts no limits on the number of weapons citizens can own. The uncertainty over how he got his guns – and what he was doing with them – underscores disputes over private gun sales, gun registration and what the government should know about who owns firearms and how they change hands.

Now, the spate of mass shootings, capped by Wednesday's spree by a heavily armed couple who killed 14 at an office holiday party in San Bernardino, California, has pushed those issues to the fore in the presidential campaign. The massacre, which follows an attack that killed three last Friday at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic and an Oct. 1 rampage by a gunman who killed 10 at an Oregon college, prompted Hillary Clinton, leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, to renew her call to "stop gun violence now" with new firearm purchase restrictions. Conversely, those who top the polls for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, insist the answer to gun violence is to empower citizens to thwart such attacks by making it easier, not harder, to buy and carry weapons.

It wasn’t hard for Nicholson.

A FAMILY TRADITION

Just about everyone knows the Nicholsons in this struggling town of 2,700, where the textile industry’s regional decline has helped strand median household income at $26,500 a year, half the U.S. average, and burglary rates run well over national norms. Firearms are a cultural staple – hunting clubs and cabins dot the county – and people say Nicholson’s penchant for guns was a family affair.

“Everybody knew he’d buy guns; his father bought ‘em, his grandfather bought ‘em,” says Al Padgett, 68, who keeps a booth at a local flea market and says he’s known the family all his life. “He collected ‘em, hoarded ‘em, but I never knew him to sell a gun. Not one. He did everyone a favor keeping ‘em off the street.”

Brooks sees things differently. Nicholson had piles of allegedly stolen goods, including a zoo’s worth of taxidermy trophies, Brooks says, but his preference was guns and he provided a ready market for burglars who grabbed them from cabins and hunting camps. The sheriff still hasn’t determined precisely how many guns in Nicholson’s cache were stolen, noting that hundreds have had their serial numbers removed so they can’t be traced.
“Getting him locked up dries up the outlet for this stolen merchandise,” Brooks says.

Brooks suspects Nicholson may have been selling some of the guns. He had relatively few handguns – maybe a half-dozen large buckets full – and “that makes us believe he had a market for those and was moving them north,” Brooks says, noting that the matter remains under investigation.

South Carolina is a common starting point for firearms moving up the Iron Pipeline, a route for many of the 230,000 or so guns stolen nationwide each year. The South has more gun thefts than any other region, federal data show, and police in New York and other northern cities say they regularly tie those guns to crimes, though there is no data on how often.

Stemming the flow is a challenge, law enforcement officials say, because it’s not organized groups moving truckloads of weapons; it’s a loose web of individuals who sell guns more as an occasional sideline than a full-time endeavor.

Russian Taliban fighter sentenced to life in prison in U.S.

A former Soviet army tank officer convicted for his role in a 2009 attack on U.S. and Afghan soldiers, was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to life in prison plus 30 years.

Irek Hamidullin, 55, was the first enemy combatant from Afghanistan to be tried in a U.S. federal court of charges related to helping Taliban fighters.

U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson handed down the sentence after Hamidullin, a convert to Islam, delivered a defense of his actions that lasted more than half an hour and cited Jesus Christ and Allah.

His conviction in August stemmed from a Taliban attack on an Afghan border police station in November 2009. Hamidullin was the sole Taliban survivor, and no Americans or Afghans were killed in the incident.

Charges against Hamidullin included providing material support to terrorists and trying to kill Afghan and U.S. soldiers. His lawyer, public defender Paul Gill, said he would appeal the convictions and sentence.

During his address to the court, Hamidullin argued that he was not a terrorist and had the right to defend himself against "American aggressors" who had invaded Afghanistan.

"As a Muslim, I don’t accept your law. I don't acknowledge this court," Hamidullin said through an interpreter.

Hamidullin, who had close-cropped hair and a goatee, was brought into court in a wheelchair, and appeared thin. U.S. medics treated him after he was shot multiple times during his apprehension.

He was held in prison in Afghanistan for five years and was frequently interrogated by Federal Bureau of Investigation and military personnel.

Before sentencing, Hudson said that one statement that resonated with him was Hamidullin’s saying to an FBI agent that “if I see you in the street I would have to kill you as an infidel.”

Hudson said that statement alone made Hamidullin a continued threat to society.

But Hamidullin told Hudson that interpreters had twisted what he said. His message had been that he would have to kill the agent as an infidel because he was in Afghanistan as an invader, he said.

He compared the U.S. role in Afghanistan to fascism and the Nazis during World War Two.

U.S. authorities look for militant links to shooters in California mass slaying

The couple suspected of killing 14 people at a holiday party in California amassed thousands of rounds of ammunition and a dozen pipe bombs, authorities said on Thursday as they sought clues to the pair's motives and whether they had links to Islamist militants.

Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, his wife and mother of his 6-month-old daughter, were killed in a shootout with police five hours after Wednesday's massacre at the Inland Regional Center social services agency in the city of San Bernardino.

Twenty-one people were wounded in the shooting, which ranks as the deadliest instance of U.S. gun violence in three years.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said at a Thursday news conference that the search of a townhouse leased by Farook and Malik in the nearby community of Redlands turned up flash drives, computers and cellphones.

Officials in Washington familiar with the investigation said so far there was no hard evidence of a direct connection between the shooters and any militant group abroad, but the electronics would be checked to see if the couple had been browsing on jihadist websites or social media.

One U.S. government source told Reuters that the FBI was examining information indicating that Farook had been in contact with individuals who were themselves under FBI investigation at some point, some from cases already closed. The source also said it was possible that one or more of the Farook contacts under scrutiny were located overseas.

But no information has yet emerged suggesting any ties or contacts between Farook and the Islamic State or other specific militant groups, the source said.

Officials from President Barack Obama to Police Chief Burguan said the attack may have been motivated by extremist ideology but that questions of motive remained unanswered.

"It is possible that this was terrorist-related. But we don't know," Obama told reporters. "It is also possible that this was workplace-related."

Farook, a U.S. citizen, was born in Illinois, the son of Pakistani immigrants, according to Hussam Ayloush, who heads the Los Angeles area chapter of the Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Malik was born in Pakistan and lived in Saudi Arabia until they married, Ayloush said.

David Bowdich, FBI assistant director in Los Angeles, said Malik was admitted to the United State on a K-1 "fiancee visa" and was traveling on a Pakistani passport.

The couple entered the United States in July 2014 after a trip that included Pakistan, Bowdich said. Farook also visited Saudi Arabia for nine days in the summer of 2014, the kingdom's embassy in Washington said.

The director of the Islamic Center of Riverside, a mosque Farook attended regularly for two years until 2014, described him as a devout Muslim who made the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia a few years ago and celebrated his wedding reception at the mosque.

"His degree of faith is very high," the director, Mustafa Kuko, told Reuters. "He was a very quiet person, peaceful, never had an argument with anyone or a dispute."

Kuko said Farook attended morning and evening prayers from 2012 to 2014, when he stopped coming abruptly.

Farook, who according to Burguan had no criminal record, worked as an inspector for San Bernardino County Department of Environmental Health, the agency throwing the holiday party that came under attack.

Police cited witness accounts that Farook had been attending the celebration but stormed off in anger, then returned with Malik armed with assault gear and opened fire. Burguan said they sprayed the room with 65 to 70 rounds.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ Review

Elegance, beauty and class are three words that quickly come to mind at the sight of this device. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, arguably a ”more ghen ghen” version of the amazing Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is no doubt a stunner in every sense of the word and a worthy competition for its rival the iPhone 6 plus. It is available in silver, white, black and gold.

So what exactly did Samsung do differently with its S6 Edge+? These are some of my findings.

DESIGN

The S6 Edge+ is just as gorgeous as its predecessor. It spots the same classy aluminium alloy frame sandwiched between a Gorilla Glass 4 screen and back. Like the suffix “plus” implies, the S6 Edge+ has a 5.7-inch screen, 0.6 inches bigger than the S6 Edge which spots a 5.1-inch screen. Though bigger, the S6 Edge plus measuring 6.9mm is slimmer than the 7.1 mm thick S6 Edge.

The S6 Edge+ also maintains the curved dual-edge display that puts it in a class only shared with its predecessor. However sleek, the curved edges combined with the thinner frame sort of makes the S6 Edge+ a little tricky and uneasy to handle. With a 5.7inch screen, operating the S6 Edge+ with just one hand especially when trying to reach the top angles of the screen is quite a task. Even more, Samsung wasn’t able to do anything about how easily the rear glass gets stained with finger prints, a problem it shares with the S6 and S6 Edge.

That said, I still remain that Samsung did a brilliant job in the phone’s design and even upped things with the S6 edge+ by giving it a fine tapered edge along the top and bottom.

CAMERA

The S6 Edge+ comes with 16MP rear camera and flash with optical image stabilisation on the rear and 8MP front facing camera that impresses even in low light.

Video recording on the S6 Edge+ gives options like Steady Video, which provides Video Digital Image Stabilization on both the front and rear cameras for sharp, crisp video on-the-go, and Video Collage Mode, which allows users to record and edit short videos easily in various frames and effects. 

With the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ you can use the Live Broadcast mode, which lets you instantly live stream Full HD video straight from the phone to any individual, group of contacts, or even the public through YouTube Live. Anyone who receives the YouTube link from a Galaxy S6 edge+ user is able to enjoy live stream video from his or her smartphone, tablet, PC or Smart TV with YouTube connectivity.

SCREEN/DISPLAY

At 5.7in, the Plus’s screen retains both the 1440 x 2650 resolution and the Samsung super AMOLED display in the S6 Edge. The curved edges look really lovely but don’t seem to add to the viewing experience. Just like with the S6 Edge, swiping the sides brings up your five favourite contacts.However, Samsung added a little improvement here so that a second swipe of the S6 Edge+ screen will show shortcuts to five favourite applications for easy access. I find this feature good, but pretty easy to ignore. There might have been some duplicated features on the S6 Edge plus especially as the device multitasks greatly. I was able to minimise lots of apps (some cannot be minimised/”opened in window view”) while others were still open and running; a feature i found incredibly handy. I could be watching a video and have my whatsapp, instagram, twitter, etc apps in bubbles and respond to any of these apps while my video plays on! The Edge+ also has the ability to show the weather, date and time notifications on either curved edge without lighting up the entire screen.

BATTERY

Samsung increased the size of the battery in the S6 Edge+ in order to compensate for its larger screen. The S6 Edge+ boasts a 3,000mAh cell which cannot be removed. The battery can be charged either with a USB cable or wirelessly with a compatible wireless pad.

SOFTWARE

The S6 Edge+ runs and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and we hear that it will get the Android Marshmallow update.  It also uses Samsung’s Touchwiz UI which gives the Andriod Lollipop 5.1.1 a different look and feels better than the previous Touchwiz UI.

FEATURES

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ comes with a fingerprint sensor just like the S6 edge.Samsung added a dedicated dock to the S6 edge+ to raise the sound quality and minimise sound distortion.We think this addition really did well in helping to give a very pleasing aural effect.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ also comes with a Heart rate sensor for health conscious users. The heart rate sensor is placed behind the rear camera’s flash and doubles as a selfie camera trigger. By placing a finger on the heart rate sensor when the camera is in selfie mode, it snaps away!

MEMORY

The Galaxy S6 Edge+ comes with 4GB of RAM  compared to the 3GB of RAM on the S6 Edge which power users may find helpful. The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge + has the 32GB and 64GB variants which cannot be expanded to the displeasure of some users. If you have the extra cash and think you need more space, then go for the 64GB version.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+: Specs

Android 5.1 Lollipop
5.7in Super AMOLED dual edge screen Quad HD (1440 x2560)
Exynos 7420 Octa-core processor
32/64GB storage
4GB RAM
16Mp rear camera with OIS
5Mp front camera
Heart rate monitor
Fingerprint scanner
NFC
GPS
11ac Wi-Fi
Bluetooth with atpX
3000mAh battery
6.9 mm
153g