YellowStone Media International

…wants financial institutions to be more circumspect The United States of America has observed that for the fight against Illicit Financial Flow (IFF) to record any meaningful success, countries and governments across the world must embrace the policy of Disclosure of Beneficial owners of companies established in their respective country, just as it identified the real estate sector as a major toll for criminals in moving their proceeds of crimes. The Director, Financial Transparency and Regulatory Policy, Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, US Department of Treasury, Young Lee, who made the remark during the US Foreign Press Centre virtual briefing on US anti-corruption efforts, argued that: “Corruption thrives in the financial shadows in shell corporations that disguise owners' true identities in offshore jurisdictions with lax anti-money laundering regulations, and in complex structures that allow the wealthy to hide their income from government authorities.”

The National Secretary of Young Progressives Party(YPP), Hon. Vidiyeno Bamaiyi, has said the national leadership of the party would hit the target of 300, 000 membership in Kwara State before the 2023 general election in order to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Bamaiyi, who spoke with journalists in Ilorin, the state capital, at the weekend shortly after the supervision of the conduct of the state congress of the party held in Ilorin, said: "Already, the membership of the YPP in Kwara State is now over 60,000, and it will be increased before the next elections." He said: "The increase in the membership drive of the YPP in the state is borne out of the fact that the APC has allegedly failed in the delivery of campaign promises to the people that elected them into power. "Reports from the state secretariat of the party in Ilorin revealed that many members of the APC and PDP are defecting to the YPP so as to provide alternative

Former Kwara State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq government, Hajia Aisha Ahman-Pategi, alongside her supporters over the weekend defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. The defection, which took place at Pategi, the headquarters of Pategi Local Government Area of the state, was well attended by the PDP stalwarts in the state. Speaking at the event at Pategi, the former commissioner stated that: “Anyone who is not with Kwara North senatorial district for governor is no longer welcome and any son or daughter of Kwara North that is not with the district in 2023 is officially disowned." She urged the electorate to ensure they give their mandate to responsive leaders. According to her, "Without you, there is no future for us all. So this is about you. Let’s hold hands and create a better Kwara State. "I returned to the fold of PDP having learnt th

Former Delta State gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Sunny Onuesoke, has described as unconstitutional for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to seize the international passports of Nigerians under its investigation. Reacting to seizure of international passports by the Nigerian security agencies recently, Onuesoke in a statement issued Sunday argued that EFCC has no constitutional right to seize international passport of those under its investigation, stressing that it is only the court that can issue such authority. The PDP chieftain maintained that the action of EFCC impounding passports of those they are investigating is tantamount to infringement on their rights to freedom of movement, which call into question Nigeria’s commitment to fundamental democratic principles and how it could cause reputational damage to the country at home and on the international stage. He noted that a situation in which government agenci

Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has finally bowed to pressure from his kinsmen in their clamour to retain power at the end of his tenure in 2023, as the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has now paved the way by scrapping its zoning arrangement. The state PDP at the weekend announced that its governorship ticket has been zoned to both Abia North and Abia Central senatorial districts, thereby accommodating the Ngwa bloc in the governorship race, and in essence, throwing it open. The zoning principle of the ruling party, which has been observed since 1999, favoured Abia North, but Ikpeazu was subjected to intense pressure by his kinsmen, who threatened fire and brimstone in their quest to retain power. It was gathered that the governor, in order to resolve his dilemma over the desires of his kinsmen and the party's zoning arrangement, had to prevail on his party leadership to adopt "double zoning" arrangement thereby playing safe. In a statement signed by the sta

A 92-year-old third substantive Registrar of the then University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife, Osun State, Chief Alex Ajayi, has described as a gross debasement of the Ivory Towers the recent attack on OAU by protesters over the tussle on the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adebayo Simeon Banire. Ajayi, who was at different times OAU's Governing Council member and registrar, posited that appointment of a VC in any federal institution is by merit, and can't be predicated on ethnicity and other sentiments. The first graduate of Ado Ekiti metropolis stated this in a chat with journalists in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Sunday over the attack by indigenes and traditionalists of Ile Ife on the university over the appointment of a new vice chancellor. The attack was said to have been propelled by the intention of some Ile- Ife indigenes to have one of the professors from that town appointed as the VC. In his view, Ajayi described the assailants a

As the 2023 electioneering approaches in Nigeria, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Saad Abubakar III, has warned politicians against playing politics of do-or-die. The Nigerian Muslim supreme leader gave the warning while speaking during the closing ceremony of the 36th Qur'anic Recitation Competition at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Stadium in Bauchi at the weekend. The Sultan, while appealing to politicians not to take politics as a must-win game, reminded them that it is only God that gives power to whom he wishes and takes it from any person He so wishes at any time. Abubakar, who advised politicians to be mindful of how they treat the electorate, said they were voted to serve the masses and not for the masses to serve them. According to him, “By 2023, the politicians will be up in their normal game, but please, play politics with the fear of the Almighty Allah, knowing that He is the only one who gives power to whom He wants at the time, and takes it aw

An inter-ethnic pressure group, We2geda, has decried the poor accountability of past political leaders in Nigeria, “who only make promises but never fulfil them,” calling on electorate, especially the youths, to unite against such recycled politicians “who have never been accountable to Nigerians in 2023.” Addressing journalists during the official inauguration of We2geda in Jos, Plateau State, Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the youth group drawn from across various religious divides, Alhaji Hussaini AbdulKarim, said it was unfortunate and disheartening that after elections, elected leaders would shun the electorate that voted them to power, and refuse to be accountable to them. He said the group was being inaugurated across all the geopolitical zones in the country to sensitise Nigerians against politicians that only abandon them to their fate after elections, adding that it was high time youths took over governance from these recycled politicians. The group leader added t

The Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-owned Universities in Nigeria (COPSUN), Mallam Yusuf Alli, at the weekend canvassed for strict regulation and control, and if possible, a moratorium should also be placed on the establishment of private universities in the country. Alli stated this at the end of the 6th biennial conference of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-owned Universities in Nigeria held at the Osun State University, Osogbo, where the stakeholders reviewed the state of university education in Nigeria and proffered the way forward. The chairman, who is the pro-chancellor of the Osun State University in a communique issued and signed by him, noted that the recommendation was borne out of the reality that the creation of new private universities that currently totaled 99 has not added any value to the enrolment of students or access of the same to university education in Nigeria. He reminded as well as cautioned the federal government that the contin