LOOKS TO INSPIRE!

HOW TO ROCK PLATFORMS THE RIGHT WAY!

BEST DRESSED LIST FROM THE AMFAR GALA!

The fashion marathon continues in the South of France with amfAR’s 22nd Cinema Against AIDS Gala, hosted today at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap D’Antibes. 

The stunning backdrop of the French Riviera was momentarily eclipsed by a few of our favorite girls whose head-turning looks added to the already dreamy evening of glitz and glamour. From Gigi Hadid’s plunging neckline to Kendall Jenner’s exposed midriff (for the 2nd time this week!), there was no shortage of sartorial stunners. 

HOW TO WEAR SNEAKERS WITH A DRESS!

Looking to try something new (or get some more use out of that bridesmaid dress)? 

Time to repurpose your cocktail looks by pairing them with a summer sneaker. The styling trick is a fashion girl favorite and, more importantly, surprisingly easy to pull off. 

Simply pair a running shoe with a sheath dress or a midi frock with canvas kicks. The result is a devil-may-care approach to summer dressing. Master the casual trend with these suggestions.

APPLE INC. BUYS NIGERIAN BORN CHINEDU ECHERUO’S HOPSTOP.COM FOR $1 BILLION!

Apple has acquired Chinedu Echeruo’s HopStop.com, The Wall Street Journal’s publication, AllThingsDigital reports. Founded in 2005, HopStop.com makes mobile applications for both iOS and Android that covers over 300 cities and that helps people get directions or find nearby subway stations and bus stops. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed as at the time of this publication.

Chinedu Echeruo, formerly an analyst at investment banks and hedge funds founded HopStop in 2005. Echeruo is now Chairman of the Board for HopStop.

HopStop has oft been compared to Israel’s Waze which was recently acquired by Google for $1 billion. The move is seen as Apple’s plan to bolster its map offering especially given Google’s recent acquisition of Waze.

A serial entrepreneur, Chinedu Echeruo grew up in Eastern Nigeria and attended Kings College, Lagos. He attended Syracuse University and the Harvard Business School in the United States and founded HopStop.com after working for several years in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Leveraged Finance groups of J.P Morgan Chase where he was involved in a broad range of M&A, Financing and Private Equity transactions.

He also worked at AM Investment Partners, a $500 million volatility-driven convertible bond arbitrage hedge fund.

He founded and raised nearly $8 million for his two U.S based internet companies; Hopstop.com andTripology.com. 

Tripology.com was acquired in 2010 by American travel and navigation information company, Rand McNally. 

He was named Black Enterprise Magazine’s Small Business Innovator of the year and listed in the magazine’s Top 40 under 40 and is currently a partner and head of the Principal Investing group at Constant Capital, a West Africa based investment bank.

True to form, Echeruo is working on yet another venture but this time, focused on small businesses in Africa. 

According to him:
“There is no reason why every entrepreneur should have to reinvent the wheel every single time in all the countries in Africa. My idea is to essentially to have one place where a budding entrepreneur can access a template for starting a business, and then customize it to suit their own situation. Essentially a business-in-a-box.”

LAGOS RESIDENTS GROAN AS FUEL SCARCITY WORSENS!

Motorists and residents of Lagos, who use petrol to power their generators, have cried out about the difficulties they are encountering while struggling to get the product.

An eyewitness, who monitored the situation in different parts of the state on Thursday, reported that the number of filling stations that had the product to sell was reducing daily, while the few ones that had petrol in stock were capitalising on the scarcity to make excessive profits at the expense of consumers.

Many filling stations have stopped selling the product on the excuse that they have no stock.

It was observed that the few stations that had the product in stock had very long queues of motorists and other consumers, who had to wait for hours to buy the product, thus compounding the already chaotic traffic situation in the metropolis.

As a result of this, most of the filling stations were selling petrol for as high as N150 per litre instead of the official price of N87 per litre.

Most of the filling stations had adjusted their pumps to reflect the new prices they fixed.

The strike by petroleum tanker drivers, who are members of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, has grounded product loading at fuel depots across the country, thereby worsening the already bad petrol supply situation.

Findings by our correspondent revealed that the PTD had also succeeded in setting up a surveillance team to enforce its no loading directive to all members and to punish anyone caught flouting the directive.

The strike by the tanker drivers, according to market sources, is the major reason why most filling stations are without products.

It was also gathered that some depots went ahead to load products in disobedience to the PTD directive on Monday.

This, according to some marketers, informed the setting up of the surveillance team by the drivers’ union.

Two marketers, confirmed that petrol supply situation to filling stations from the depots had almost come to a halt.

One of the marketers said, “There is no improvement on the situation. Nothing is happening at the depots and nobody is saying anything to bring sanity to the mess in the system.

“The surveillance team of the PTD arm of NUPENG is going round the depots to ensure that nobody is loading.”

It was also gathered that some marketers had moved to Abuja to seek solutions to the lingering problem.

A source told in confidence, “Some marketers are currently in Abuja waiting for the possibility of a meeting with key officials of the current government and the incoming government.”

 The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Thomas Olawore, was contacted on the telephone, he admitted to being in Abuja but would not disclose his mission to the seat of power.

“Nobody is talking to us about anything. It is true that I am in Abuja now, but I will soon be on my way back to Lagos,” he said.

But the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, insisted in a telephone interview with our correspondent that 1.2 billion litres of petrol had been pushed into the market from its last consignment.

He said with the current daily demand for petrol and the stock of the product with the corporation, there was enough petrol to service the country for another 20 days.

Alegbe said, “All the petrol the whole country has been consuming for a while now came from the NNPC. We have the product that can last for another 20 days pending when new consignments come in.

“I think whatever questions Nigerians have should be directed to the independent petroleum marketers and the major oil Markets; not us.”

Alegbe, who declined to make a categorical statement on the possibility of the marketers hoarding products, said it was crucial that Nigerians inquired from them the whereabouts of the product the NNPC had pumped into the system.

The instruction from the PTD to its members on Monday read, “Comrades/unit chairmen/executives you are directed to suspend all loading activities in all the depots as from Monday 18th May, 2015.

“There will be severe sanctions for any chairman/others that did not comply.”

Our correspondent had gathered that the tanker drivers were advised to take the action by the marketers, who were owed subsidy arrears of over N200bn by the Federal Government, in order to force the government to liquidate the debt.

The marketers are worried that they may lose money if the current government does not take full responsibility to liquidate the debt.

Despite the initial payment of N154bn by the Federal Government to the marketers, who in turn made a part payment to the transporters, the scarcity of petrol has persisted, grounding economic and social activities in the country.

LAMIDO JETS OUT TO S/ARABIA, LEAVES N14BN DEBT!

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State yesterday handed over to the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Abdu Babura, after a news conference at the end of the council meeting and left the state for Abuja-Lagos en route Saudi-Arabia.

The out-going governor said at the news conference that a debt profile of the state obtained from the joint sitting of the two transition committees was N14 billion.
He said the federal government owes the state N12 billion from the airport project executed by state government with the understanding and commitment of the federal government to reimburse the state while N2 billion is the actual debt of the state.

It would be recalled that the governor had at a briefing two weeks ago, said he committed about N17 billion of the state’s funds in the airport project with hope that President Goodluck Jonathan, who promised during his visit to Jigawa in 2010 to establish an airport there, would reimburse the state, adding that the federal government only paid the state N5.8 billion, leaving a balance of N12 billion.
President Jonathan in October 2014 while commissioning the airport said the federal government would only support state governments handling airport projects because the government cannot reimburse all the eight state building airports across the country. 

Lamido also told newsmen that there were  rollover projects worth N90 billion for which the state government had awarded contracts  but had not made any payment to the contractors, adding that it was left for the incoming administration to continue or stop the projects.

The governor also told journalists that all political appointees would be in their offices till the midnight of May 28, adding that statutory appointees would stay till their tenure expires.

SUCCESS OF 2015 POLLS PROVED DOOMSDAY PROPHETS WRONG — JEGA!

ABUJA — CHAIRMAN of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, yesterday, said the successful conduct of the 2015 general elections proved doomsday predictions wrong.

He also attributed much of the problems faced by the commission during the elections to attitude of the political class, unsettled legal framework and apathy among the electorate.

Jega, who made the comment when he received a delegation led by Mexican Ambassador to Nigeria, Marco Antonio Garcia Blanco, in his office in Abuja, insisted that some predictions, especially in some western media, suggesting that the outcome of the elections might lead to the end of the country had proven to be false due to the generally free, fair, credible and peaceful conduct of the elections.
He said: “We are, indeed, very happy that our elections turned out to be well and to have been recognized both nationally and internationally as free, fair, credible and also peaceful.
“Leading to the election, some impressions had been created, particularly in the international media as if this may be the end of our country. Thank God it was doomsday prediction which turned out to be false.”
Better than 2011 elections
Jega, who was delighted by the offer to share experiences with other countries, explained that though the 2015 elections were not perfect, they were much better than 2011 and admitted that there was room for improvement.

The INEC chairman said:  “We know that the election has not been perfect; we know that it was better than 2011, but there is also a lot of scope for improvement and that is why we welcome every opportunity to visit other countries and to see how they do their own elections and to be able to exchange ideas and to also learn good practices which we can continue to adapt to our own circumstances for continuous improvement of our own electoral process.”

He appreciated the efforts of the Mexican Embassy in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between both countries in sharing electoral experiences and urged that such bilateral relationship be extended to other sectors.

“You facilitated the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding which has been very useful, many of our staff have benefited by participation in some conferences.  All these experiences have been useful and beneficial and we cherish the opportunity,” he said.
Earlier in his remark, Ambassador Marco Antonio Garcia Blanco had said his mission to the commission was to transmit congratulatory message for a great job the commission did in the last electoral process.
He said everybody recognized the key role played by the commission in the successes achieved in the electoral process.
He called on the leadership of INEC to share experience with his country which, according to him, is very important in improving the electoral process in Mexico.
“Your expertise, knowledge and wisdom will be a great asset to our electoral body. With experience sharing, Mexico will benefit a lot,” he said.
Blanco advocated continuous strengthening of existing bilateral relationship between both countries
Meanwhile, Jega attributed much of the challenges the commission faced during the last elections to attitude of political class, unsettled legal framework, apathy among electorate.
Other factors highlighted by the INEC chairman include insecurity, technological challenges with the card reader, vendor issues, inadequate voter education as well as poverty.
Electoral Offences Commission
Jega, who confidently said the institutions of democracy were gradually gaining ground in Nigeria, called for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission, as part of efforts to step-up performance in the future.

He spoke at the 8th national development summit of traditional rulers with the theme, ‘Consolidating Nigeria’s Peace and Unity in Democratic Advancement,’ in Abuja.
Represented by one of his commissioners, Dr Israel Igbani, Jega noted that the commission concentrated on three focal points, namely structure, policy and plans, to ensure a successful conduct of the elections.
“Guided by the lessons learnt from 2011, in our preparation for the 2015 elections, INEC concentrated on three focal points, namely: Structure, Policy and Plans,” he said.
Challenges
He further explained that the commission in carrying out its responsibility, was confronted with numerous challenges such as insecurity which necessitated the shift in the dates of the elections from February 14 to March 28 and April 11 for the Presidential and National Assembly and Governorship and State Assembly respectively.

According to him, the extension allowed security forces to regain some areas lost to terrorists.
“As a result, the elections were held under relatively peaceful conditions, notwithstanding scattered pockets of violence and intimidation in a few areas,” he said.
He noted that the attitude of the political class in Nigeria had always presented a great challenge to every electoral management body in the country, saying with the winner takes all syndrome came a high level of desperation to capture power by all means necessary.

He also noted that hate speeches and campaigns were rampant during the electioneering period.
Jega further noted that it was so unfortunate that the commission pursuit electoral reform, but  lamented that “this could not be accomplished before the elections.”
He added that apathy among the electorate, particularly concerning the collection of the Permanent Voters’ Cards, PVCs, could not be overlooked.
He said: “In spite of the concern of some citizens about the smart card reader, its  yielded remarkable result though not without some initial hitches as is common with new technologies.
“Also, some of the vendors from whom electoral materials were purchased did not live up to their contractual obligations and could not cope with the commission’s tight deadlines.
“Diverse languages barriers, culture and tradition also posed major challenges to the delivery of voter education/ enlightenment.
“The difficult economic situation (poverty) in our society was manipulated by politicians to easily mobilize some youth for reckless political foot soldering.”

To address these challenges, INEC boss said political parties must imbibe the principle of internal democracy to complement efforts of the commission, while calling for the creation of Electoral Offences Commission to apprehend, investigate and prosecute offenders.
He said:  “The commission is moving into the next phase of careful, strategic planning and preparation for future elections. To improve our electoral process, INEC and stakeholders will have to ensure the followings; Continuous voters’ registration procedures must be put in place and sustained.
“Distribution of PVCs should be carried out more regularly, efficiently and effectively. The process and timing of recruitment and training of ad-hoc staff must be reviewed.
“Voter education and enlightenment must be stepped up to further reduce to its barest minimum the issues of voter apathy, violence and electoral offences.”
Chairman of the Summit Governing Council, the Abe 1, Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom, HRM Emmanuel Sideso, called on the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure the constitutional empowerment of traditional rulers.
He said:   “It is our hope that soon after your assumption of office, constitutional empowerment of traditional rulers shall be achieved, against many years of feet dragging on the matter.
‘’We also want to re-echo the call for the appointment of a Special Adviser to the President on chieftaincy affairs, to enhance grassroots governance.”

SPEAKERSHIP: TINUBU, LAGOS LAWMAKERS-ELECT IN DING-DONG OVER IKUFORIJI’S REPLACEMENT!

Countdown to the inauguration of the 8th Legislative Assembly in Lagos State, there is currently a serious face-off between some lawmakers-elect and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over who will take-over from Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly (LAHA).

Barely 10 days to the inauguration of the incoming legislative assembly, the challenge of who to fit into Ikuforiji’s shoes capable of maring the smooth take-off of the incoming administration Legislative and Executive Arms of government is yet to be settled among members–elect.

The pomp and pageantry that usually greets inauguration of the assembly is likely to be adversely affected. Who succeeds Ikuforiji is apparently occupying the minds of the incoming lawmakers.
However, for the first time, the legislative assembly will be having a significant number of minority, as seven out of 40 seats of the house will be occupied by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, members, while 33 seats will be occupied by members-elect from the ruling All Progress Congress, APC.
One major fall-out of the last election is that the current Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. Kolawole Taiwo, fondly called HKT by his admirers will not be returning in the 8th assembly.

Taiwo, having served four terms in the House, representing Ajeromi Ifelodun Constituency 1, is the most favoured to clinch the office. But having suffered defeat to a candidate of the PDP, Mr. Dayo Famakinwa, this automatically destabilized the earlier permutations for a new speaker come June 1. The contenders for the speakership race are Lanre Ogunyemi, representing Ojo Constituency II is returning to the House for the second time. Ogunyemi is from Lagos West.
Mudasiru Obasa, representing Agege constituency I, is the current Chairman of the House Committee on Budget and Economic Planning. Obasa is considered one of the most respected lawmakers in the House and commands much respect among his colleagues. He is from Lagos West. Rotimi Abiru, representing Somolu Constituency II, is currently the Deputy Chief Whip of the House. Interestingly, Abiru is the only principal officer that got re-lected during the just concluded polls. Other principal officers lost out either at party primaries or during the elections.
His experience cannot be overlooked as he is coming in as a third term lawmaker. Having been in the House since 2007, Abiru is regarded as one of the most vibrant lawmakers. Abiru is also regarded as a good manager of human and material resources. He reads the mood of the House and proffers solutions on issues where necessary, that is why he is nicknamed ‘Barometer’ by his colleagues. He is from Lagos East.
Moshood Olanrewaju Osun, representing Lagos Mainland constituency 1, is coming as a third term lawmaker. Coming from a rich legislative background, Osun is from Lagos Central and this may be an advantage if the party considers his zone. Hon. Funmilayo Tejuosho, the only female contender, represents Mushin Constituency I. She is from Lagos West. She was the Deputy Speaker in the 6th Assembly.

Tejuosho has remained consistently dogged and the most formidable Amazon on the floor of the House. She is brilliant, articulate and capped it up with needed legislative experience. Leading the Assembly will not be new to Tejuosho as she had once served as Deputy Speaker in the Assembly where she presided over proceedings in the absence of the Speaker.
Gbolahan Yisawu, from Eti Osa 1, had shown interest in the speakership even before the party’s primaries and this development made many of his colleagues to regard him as having inordinate ambition. He is from Lagos Central. Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, elected to represent Lagos Island 1, was a member of the House between 1999 and 2003. Pundits posited that the absence of 12 years may have shut him out of the current legislative reality, though he is also from Lagos Central.
Lagos State House of Assembly
Lagos State House of Assembly
With the governor-elect, Mr. Akinwummi Ambode coming from the East and his Deputy, Fausat Adebule from the West, the odds might favour Eshinlokun, who is from the Central. Following initial intrigues, horse trading, negotiations, arm twisting and high-wire politicking, it was gathered that some members decided to queue behind Eshinlokun for speakership, while some queue behind others and some are undecided.
Eshinlokun, is said to be the candidate of APC national Leader and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the “Jagaban” as he’s fondly called. However, Tinubu who was yet to publicly endorse him as at press time, eventhough it was gathered that mercenaries had been sent in motion to convince other members to support Eshinlokun’s ambition who is the anointed candidate.
He might have difficult time convincing his colleagues because they (colleagues) believe that he has lost touch with legislative matters because of his absence since 1999. Another obstructing factor is that Eshinlokun has a pending court case with a fellow party member, Hakeem Masha, over who was the legal candidate to represent APC in the election to represent Lagos Island 1.

Another stumbling block to Eshinlokun’s ambition is that the current Speaker, Ikuforiji prefer to give it to his stooge and ally, Abiru, in order to fully cover his tracks after leaving office.
Meanwhile, Obasa is said to be a non indigene, from Ewekoro in Ogun State. The house would not want a situation where the speaker will be seen as a non-Lagosian as the case against the governor- elect, who is said to be from Ondo State. Moreso, there is one Abiru as the Clerk of the House, so the issue of Abiru as speaker and the Clerk did not augur well with members.
Abiru, not wanting to let go has also employed the support of Hon. Oshinowo, popularly called “Pepper,” and House of   Representatives member-elect, Kosofe in the quest to change Asiwaju’s decision and endorse him, Obasa as the anointed candidate. It was gathered that many attempts to see Asiwaju on the matter have not yielded any positive result. Hence, the game continues.
Osun and Yishawu are also not giving up easily. They have embarked on one-on-one canvassing with members. While Osun is enjoying some attention, Yishawu is not, as he is considered to be too ambitious and arrogant for the job. Interestingly, Hon. Tejuosho, who many believed has gathered enough legislative experience, coupled with her profession as a Lawyer, is still unsure to replace Ikuforiji’s.
Her close links with APC strong member, Muiz Banire, is likely to affect her ambition because of the frosty relationship between Banire and Tinubu. Members believe that if she eventually becomes the speaker it will be difficult for Tinubu, who is the godfather to many to shadow and control the speaker.
There is murmuring among members to reject any imposed candidate on the assembly, warning against the repeat of 1999 episode, when the majority candidate for speakership, Hon. Ola Animashaun was consumed at the 11th hour by the power that be then and Hon Olurunnibe Mammora, in a twist of fate, emerged the speaker.
Though, the incident saw members of the house throwing chairs at one another during the session of the election. According to one of the members-elect who preferred anonymity, “The Assembly is supposed to be independent, hence, we should be left alone to choose our own popular leader rather than imposition. The era of imposition in the assembly is over. We have brilliant members now and we are ready to go the whole hug to stop any form of imposition.”

APA DRAGS OKOROCHA TO TRIBUNAL, CLAIMS VOTES CAST OUTNUMBERED PVCs COLLECTED!

OWERRI—A new dimension has crept into the current struggle to wrest the governorshipl election victory from Governor Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
According to a petition, EPT/IM/GOV/2/2015, filed before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal by the candidate of African People’s Alliance, APA, Mr. Charles Osita Nnadi, claimed, among other allegations, that the total number of votes cast in most polling units in the state outnumbered the total number of registered voters, as well as the total number of eligible voters, who collected their Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, and the total number of accredited voters.

The petitioners, Mr. Nnadi and his party, APA, claimed, that the total number of votes cast in most polling units, particularly Ideato North, Ideato South, Aboh Mbaise, Oru East, Orsu, Obowo, Mbaitoli,  Ikeduru, Okigwe, Nkwerre, Nwangele and Njaba local government areas of Imo State, were greater than the total number of registered voters, who collected their PVCs and the total number of accredited voters in the areas in question.

The petitioner also averred that the election was invalid as a result of corrupt practices and non-compliance  with the Electoral Act.
According to the petitioner, the governorship election of April 11, 2015, and the supplementary election of April 25, 2015, were marred and vitiated by substantial non-compliance with statutory requirements, irregularities, corrupt practices, fraud, illegal voting and mutilation of election result sheets that substantially affected them.

He said none of the candidates was entitled to be declared winner of the election, and that the exercise should have been nullified.
Nnadi also claimed that there were cases of ballot box snatching, illegal voting and snatching of election result sheets by thugs/agents of the first and second respondents, Governor Rochas Okorocha and APC, respectively.
The petitioner also accused the governor and his agents of indulging in illegal buying and selling of PVCs, through which they allegedly induced and procured illegal and unlawful votes across the state, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act.
We recall that at the last count, no fewer than three cases had been filed in the tribunal, challenging the victory of Okorocha.